Countless pale pink Zanpakutō floated in the air, their points hanging straight down. Arranged in four layers, they formed a sparse cage.
With a swing of his blade, Muten Natsu released ink blades. Before they could even slip through the gaps between the swords, an invisible force tore them apart.
Scattered blades shot rapidly through the space between them. Their trajectories had already been set, so their speed and power were far beyond what they had been before.
"This is a technique in which I abandon defense and stake everything on annihilating my enemy. These thousands of blades are my prison, and your place of execution." Byakuya Kuchiki loosened his grip, and the two blades returned to their positions while another flew into his hand. "Rest easy. They will not attack you. This Senkei is a funeral procession reserved only for those I choose to eliminate with my own hands."
His fingers tightened around the hilt. Byakuya Kuchiki fixed his eyes on Muten Natsu, and the deep furrow of his brow gave his face a rare trace of savagery.
"You should be the second person… to lay eyes on it."
"As far as I'm concerned…" Muten Natsu glanced to either side. "It's mediocre."
"It seems you take pleasure in trampling on the dignity of the Shinigami." Byakuya Kuchiki's gaze turned icy. "Killing nobles, slaughtering Central 46, destroying the Sōkyoku. Your very existence is a violation of the rules Soul Society has upheld for a thousand years. And now, the time has come for you to pay the price."
"You seem to have the wrong idea about me." Muten Natsu raised his blade. "In my eyes… Soul Society's rules aren't worth a damn!"
In a flash, Byakuya Kuchiki appeared behind Muten Natsu and drove his blade toward the center of his back.
The sword scraped against Muten Natsu's scales, throwing off bursts of black fire. Muten Natsu had no intention of defending at all. He turned and slashed back in the same motion.
Byakuya Kuchiki blocked the counterattack with his blade held crosswise. His fingers opened, and another sword dropped into his hand, slicing toward Muten Natsu's throat.
"You want to play twin blades with me…" Muten Natsu spun, Bokukō and Myōki dancing one after the other as wild black flames and thick ink blades came crashing down like a storm.
Flowing spirit ink and burning black fire intertwined, and where the two met, flames burst forth.
Byakuya Kuchiki defended from left and right with both swords. As the blades shattered, tiny sharp fragments burst free and canceled out the black flames.
A new long blade fell into his hand, and he met Muten Natsu's assault again.
"Like I said, this move really is mediocre!" Muten Natsu pressed the attack without restraint. "Most of your power is being used to maintain this barrier, all just to trap me… too bad I never had any intention of running!"
The more someone wanted to run, the more they would end up cornered with nowhere left to go.
Muten Natsu had not come this time just to rescue Rukia Kuchiki. He also wanted everyone in Seireitei to remember the terror they had felt back then, and to completely give up the idea of interfering with his life ever again.
He meant to settle the matter once and for all.
He had caused havoc in Seireitei before, but at the time, Muten Natsu had already been nearly out of power.
He had no longer been capable of posing much of a threat to the people of Seireitei.
So this time, Muten Natsu intended to stir things up all over again, then leave in one piece.
Only that would make the schemers lurking in the shadows truly behave.
Back then, Muten Natsu had burned himself to the brink of death to unleash the power needed to stand against Seireitei. Now the situation was completely different.
By burning the Sōkyoku, Muten Natsu had gained immense power without needing to burn himself.
"The Kuchiki Clan is one of the Four Great Noble Families, the model all Shinigami look up to. And you're said to be the most outstanding head the family has ever had…"
Muten Natsu's eyes widened, naked ambition burning within them.
"So if I crush you head-on and shatter this so-called example, the rest of them should quiet down too!"
"The key to this technique…" Byakuya Kuchiki thrust his blade forward, the tip grazing Muten Natsu's cheek. "...lies in the final struggle of a trapped beast."
"Hm?" Muten Natsu frowned and swung his blade aside, knocking away Byakuya Kuchiki's strike.
"You gained power far beyond your limits through Hellfire, yet your ability to control that power has not improved at all." Byakuya Kuchiki had already seen through Muten Natsu's condition. His figure flashed aside, evading Muten Natsu's attack while striking from the flank. "You cannot perform refined Zanjutsu. All you can do are wide, sweeping attacks because you haven't truly mastered that sudden surge of strength."
Byakuya Kuchiki closed in from the right, while another Byakuya Kuchiki appeared on the left, slashing with his blade.
"Your footwork is clumsy. Your movements are slow. Your reactions are dull."
A series of rapid Shunpo left afterimages that looked almost like separate bodies in flight. Rather than clashing head-on, Byakuya Kuchiki used Shunpo to reposition constantly, attacking from angles where Muten Natsu found it hardest to exert force.
"Like a child trying to swing a stone heavier than himself, stumbling around as the weight drags him."
Three Byakuya Kuchiki figures attacked at once. The pale pink blades stabbed toward the spot where Muten Natsu would have the hardest time countering, striking the instant his own swing finished.
Boom!
The scales on Muten Natsu's body spread open as surging black flames burst outward, forming a scorching wave that swallowed all three Byakuya Kuchiki figures.
The blade in Byakuya Kuchiki's hand shattered. He immediately pulled away, fresh crimson blood seeping from the wound on his left shoulder.
At the instant the Hellfire erupted, Muten Natsu had hidden his movement within the black flames and slashed out, nearly cutting open Byakuya Kuchiki's throat.
Fortunately, Byakuya Kuchiki's Shunpo was exceptional, allowing him to evade at the last moment.
"What did you just say?" Muten Natsu raised an eyebrow. "I didn't hear it clearly."
Just as Byakuya Kuchiki had said, Muten Natsu truly had difficulty controlling the sudden surge of power.
But letting that power run wild required no control at all.
"Just as I expected." Byakuya Kuchiki raised a hand and caught another blade, his gaze cold. "Your path to defeat is already reflected in my eyes."
...
In the forest, clouds of dust rising from the ground were torn apart by fierce gusts of wind. The sound of repeated collisions echoed as two figures clashed several times in midair in the blink of an eye. Then they separated at the same moment, landing on tree branches on opposite sides.
"No wonder Ukitake managed to obtain the Tenshiheisō of the Shihōin Clan. So it was you." Soi Fon stared at Yoruichi Shihōin not far away. "Now that I think about it, it's been a long time since we last met. But your skills don't seem to have improved much."
Yoruichi Shihōin crossed her arms over her chest, her expression relaxed.
"I was thinking the same thing. It feels like you've gotten a bit worse."
"And the Tentōken on Muten Natsu's body. The Shihōin Clan really has fallen." Soi Fon snorted coldly. "Once someone investigates this afterward, you'll definitely be expelled from the Four Great Noble Families. Just like the fallen Shiba Clan."
"You're unusually talkative today." Yoruichi Shihōin looked at Soi Fon, still smiling. "Is it because you're excited to see the senpai you admired for so long…"
"Or are you venting the frustration you've been holding in all this time, Commander of the Onmitsukidō?"
Soi Fon's eyes suddenly turned fierce.
"Or perhaps…" The smile at the corner of Yoruichi Shihōin's lips vanished for a brief moment. "Taking over my position has put too much pressure on you?"