Though he spoke in a calm tone, there was a steeliness in his words that indicated he wouldn’t take no for an answer. However, it was likely that it went against his personal philosophy to ignore the will of the captain and kill them.
As Yumichika looked at them coldly, Liltotto shrugged with a cold look in her eyes as well.
“You are definitely holding a grudge though, aren’t you?”
“Hey, hey, Lil.”
“Don’t, Gigi.”
“Tsk. I didn’t even say anything though.”
Giselle, being Giselle, harbored a strange hostility toward Yumichika for reasons unknown, so Liltotto was at the point of wanting to withdraw temporarily in order to avoid any unnecessary discord.
Madarame, who had just joined them, said with a sour look, “Either way, we haven’t got time to squabble with you right now. It’s not like I’m completely on board with this either, but you’ve already got an agreement with the Captain General.”
A majority of the Eleventh Company were battle-crazy. In Madarame’s case, he had fought under Kenpachi Zaraki and thought that if he were going to die, he wanted it to be in battle.
In the past, he had preached to a Fullbringer boy, “If you’re going to risk your life, then do it for someone who would die for you,” but if one were to ask Madarame himself who he wagered his life on, in one important aspect it wasn’t for others so much as for his own sake.
Many of those who wore the yarrow company insignia wished to meet their end in battle as their ultimate form of self-righteousness, and Madarame also staked his life persistently on his own dignity. He wasn’t dying for Kenpachi’s sake, but instead wished to fight until his last moment under the visage of his revered captain.
It was said that Komamura, who had in the past also claimed that he “left his life with Genryusai Yamamoto,” in the end did not risk his life for Genryusai himself, but for the Seireitei, the place the Captain General had been protecting.
Because of that, Madarame thought that to fixate on revenge for his own selfish reasons would only be an insult to his companions who had fought fiercely and were lost in battle. Of course, it depended on what the fight was, but he narrowed his eyes as he stared Giselle down and said, “We’ve also killed several of your friends, haven’t we? I don’t like the mouth on that zombie prick, but that’s what battles have always been like.”
“…Zombie prick…?”
“Calm down, slut. This isn’t the time for that.” Liltotto heard Giselle mutter with a superficial smile but with absolutely no sign of emotion in her eyes and sighed as she soothed her companion. “Well, regardless of the circumstances, it means we’re allies right now. But don’t expect us to go as far as cooperating with you.”
As though he hadn’t had any use for cooperation from the start, Madarame put on a bold smile and turned his eyes to Kenpachi.
“Fine, just stay back. Anyone who gets in the way of the captain’s fun—even us—won’t make it out in one piece.”
Hikone had released several Cero arrows, but Kenpachi repelled most of them. Though one in five arrows hit him directly, they didn’t seem to have much of an effect.
“What’s wrong? That can’t be all you’ve got?” Kenpachi said, quickly approaching and swinging his blade.
Hikone met the attack with the top of their shoulder, but it passed through the Blut Vene and Hierro, easily sinking into the child.
“…Guh!”
Hikone immediately moved away, but the blade had already torn through their flesh. Fresh blood flitted in the Kyogoku’s air. However, the spiritual pressure that circulated the Blut Vene in them immediately stopped the bleeding.
“That Kurosaki also had a strange way of stopping his bleeding. You related to Ichigo or something?” Remembering the first time he had fought Ichigo Kurosaki, Kenpachi smiled.
“I’m so pleased to be compared to such a famous hero! Mr. Ichigo Kurosaki is supposed to be the same as me, so maybe his Quincy blood did that. Does that mean that you might be Mr. Kenpachi Zaraki?”
“Now that you mention it, I never told you my name. You know about me?”
“Yes, sir! Mr. Shuhei Hisagi informed me about you earlier! He said that if I fight Kenpachi Zaraki, I’ll die, so I shouldn’t do it!”
Madarame and Yumichika reacted to those words even before Kenpachi.
“Hisagi…? Hey, wait. Hisagi’s here?”
At that point, Hikone twisted just their head around to peer at Madarame and smiled, saying, “Yes! He’s in the throne room, so I just made him faint and came here! Yes, indeed!”
“What could that man possibly be doing…?” Yumichika seemed shocked as he spoke, then he looked up. “The throne… You don’t mean he’s in that tall, floating building, do you?”
“What’ll we do? Should we go save him?”
Yumichika started to nod at Madarame’s words, but…
“I’m very sorry, but you cannot do that.” With a hollow smile, Hikone rebuffed Madarame and Yumichika. “Yes, because I was told to kill you all immediately!”
Before Hikone finished speaking, the child disappeared. In the next moment, a tempestuous wind passed between Madarame and Yumichika.
“…Guh!”
It was the zanpaku-to pressure from Kenpachi bringing down his sword and cutting Hikone as the child went around to the Soul Reapers’ backs.
“You two are in the way. I almost chopped you up with the kid.”
Madarame and Yumichika looked at Kenpachi as he clucked his tongue. It was then they realized that they had almost been ambushed by Hikone, who was behind them.
“Sorry.”
Breaking into a cold sweat, Madarame and Yumichika immediately backed down.
“That was amazing! I was so close to piercing their hearts though…”
Hikone uttered that disturbing phrase with a smile on their face, and Kenpachi said in irritation, “Quit being greedy. You’re in the middle of a fight with me.”
“You’re right. It looks like I need to kill you first.”
Hikone narrowed their eyes and leapt at Kenpachi.
When it came to speed, Hikone was like quicksilver. With Soul Reaper shunpo, Quincy hirenkyaku, Hollow sonido, and Fullbringer konpaku subjugation all combined in their motions, they had reached the pinnacle of movement techniques.
Just as Kenpachi thought Hikone had disappeared, the child was running on a crash course toward him.
The zanpaku-to that Hikone presently carried had transformed into a monster and was taking position on the ground. In other words, though Hikone was empty-handed, by using Hierro and Blut Arterie to enforce their limbs, they were able to create slashing attacks that far outstripped the average zanpaku-to.
In the span of a blink, from beginning to end, Hikone assailed Kenpachi’s body with karate chops and kicks. Though Kenpachi swung his sword lightning-quick between the attacks, Hikone just barely avoided the sword and hit with yet more successive attacks.
However, Kenpachi’s body was also abnormally steadfast. A Soul Reaper with normal spiritual pressure wouldn’t be able to leave a mark on his steel physique even using a zanpaku-to. Though his skin was slightly cut and he was bleeding from Hikone’s attacks, they didn’t come close to inflicting a fatal wound.
Madarame and Yumichika watched from afar, confident in their captain’s supremacy, and actually admired Hikone’s skill and spiritual pressure in being able to wound Kenpachi Zaraki even slightly. However…
“I’ve finally gotten used to how hard you are!”
Once Hikone said this, which almost seemed like something Kenpachi Zaraki himself would say, they saw Hikone cut deep into Kenpachi’s flesh, and their admiration was overcome by shock.
A spray of blood spattered through the air, and Ken-pachi’s captain’s jacket was dyed red. However, as Kenpachi was enshrouded in the scarlet mist flowing from his very own body…
As one who carried the Kenpachi name, he laughed.
“Thought so…”
In the middle of the successive attacks, just as the eye patch that had fallen off fluttered through the air, the billowing spiritual pressure that boiled up from under it vigorously agitated the pronounced reishi in the Kyogoku.
Then, the human form that had transformed into a mass of pure violence that might even destroy the concept of death itself, opened its mouth.
“You seem like you’ll be the most fun.”
≡