"Oi, Rukia-san, what's going on? Your Zanjutsu still hasn't improved much," Amamiya Miyako remarked casually, pushing her back step by step with his dual blades gleaming in the sunlight.
"Ugh..." Rukia grit her teeth, frustrated. She knew he was right. Her Zanjutsu had always been her weak point—even back in the Shinōreijutsuin. No matter how hard she trained, her swordplay lacked the sharpness others developed naturally.
After being forced back again, Rukia changed her stance, shifting from a two-handed grip to one. It was clear she didn't intend to keep this as a swordfight. After all, battles between Shinigami weren't settled by swords alone.
"Hadō #4: Byakurai!" she chanted sharply, releasing a white bolt of lightning straight at Miyako the moment she stepped back.
But Amamiya Miyako's sharp gaze instantly noticed her raised hand—classic Kido posture.
"Yare yare, too obvious," he muttered, leaping high into the air and countering on reflex.
"Bakudō #9: Geki!" A red paralysis field shot toward Rukia, glowing like a burst of red mist. The restraining aura wrapped around her hand before she could fully shift her stance.
"Gotcha," Miyako smirked, gripping the hilt of his blade tightly. He pulled hard on the tendrils of Geki as if reeling in a fish, aiming to topple her balance.
But Rukia only smiled. "No, I've got you."
Even with one hand restrained, she still had another free.
"Hadō #11: Tsuzuri Raiden!" she called, tapping the energy tether of Geki with a single finger. A burst of electric current surged through the red aura, crackling toward Amamiya along the makeshift conduit.
"Tch—dangerous move," Miyako muttered. Without hesitation, he slashed the rope with his Zanpakuto. A moment later, the electricity sparked harmlessly at the ground where it had been cut.
"You really are dangerous with Kido, Rukia-san. Your skill's no joke," he said, his tone admiring.
"Baka, that was just the warm-up," Rukia shot back confidently, adjusting her stance.
"Heh. In that case… guess I'll stop holding back too," Miyako said with a grin. "Bakudō #21: Sekienton" A thick cloud of red smoke exploded around him, blinding her vision.
But he didn't stop there.
"Bakudō #26: Kyokkō!" The second chant followed immediately, causing his spiritual presence to vanish entirely from her senses.
Rukia's eyes widened. "A double incantation?!"
Her instincts flared—he wasn't just hiding. He was preparing something.
From within the fog, she could still sense the faint presence of reishi being gathered, and it was growing stronger by the second. But unbeknownst to her, Miyako had already repositioned—he was high above now, in midair.
"Separate—Shinya Zetsunen!" His voice rang clear from the sky.
The twin blades merged into a single, sleek bow. With practiced ease, he drew back an arrow formed of condensed reishi and let it fly.
Rukia sensed it a second too late.
"What?!"
She turned her head just in time to see the glimmer of the projectile streaking toward her. She twisted mid-step, managing to avoid a direct hit—but not entirely. The arrow grazed her shoulder and exploded behind her in a burst of energy.
"It's not over yet," Amamiya Miyako muttered as he extended his hand, fingers splayed as if grasping the air itself.
"Gin no muchi furue, itsutsu no tetsusai o utsu! Gochūtekkan!"
("Swing the silver whip, strike the five iron pillars! Five-Pillar Bind!")
He recited the incantation silently, his spiritual pressure swirling as he cast the Bakudō. A glowing white capsule began to expand from the impact point of his reiryoku-infused arrow, forming five massive columns of light that slammed into the ground around Rukia, trapping her within. But Miyako had modified it—he had intentionally removed the five-pointed star crest usually used as the anchor point.
He had his reasons. The five-pointed star was far too similar to the Quincy's reishi marks—and as a Shinigami, even one outside the Seireitei, he wasn't about to let anyone get the wrong idea. Besides, being out here meant he didn't have to worry about the eyes of the Wandenreich watching.
"Eh? A self-created Kido?" Rukia gasped, her eyes widening. "I've seen Kido launched through arrows, but… this is something else."
The glowing capsule sealed her completely. But Miyako didn't rush in—he calmly began compressing reishi within his body, forming another arrow, his aim fixed on the center of the Kido, ready to strike the moment she broke free.
But instead of a burst of spiritual pressure or the shattering of Bakudō, a quiet hiss filled the air. Steam…?
White mist began to rise from the capsule.
"No way…" Miyako's eyes narrowed.
He released the arrow on instinct, but as it pierced through the cage of light, there was no sign of Rukia—only frozen fragments of his Gochūtekkan lay scattered on the forest floor.
"She's behind me."
He spun around, leaping back.
"Mai, Sode no Shirayuki."
Rukia stood there, her Zanpakutō already released into its Shikai state. But strangely, she hadn't attacked yet.
"To release your Zanpakutō right away... you really don't hold back, Miyako-san," Rukia said, exasperated. "Yare yare, what kind of fight starts at full power?"
"This is the right way, Rukia-san. That wound on your shoulder says enough, doesn't it?"
Sode no Shirayuki gleamed brilliantly in the light—its blade pure white, an elegant ribbon trailing from the hilt. The circular tsuba was carved with delicate cutouts, and her spiritual pressure now felt as crisp and sharp as the winter air.
"Beautiful…" Miyako said sincerely. "Your Sode no Shirayuki is just… breathtaking."
"Heh. You're not the first to say that," Rukia chuckled softly. "Some even call her the most beautiful Zanpakutō in all of Soul Society."
"But," she said, both hands gripping the hilt now, "if you get too distracted by her looks, Miyako-san, you'll be frozen in no time."
Without warning, cold air burst from the blade, rushing toward him in a wave of white frost. Miyako sidestepped with ease, his voice casual.
"Oi oi, if this is your fastest, it's slower than Hadō."
"Oh? Then watch carefully this time," Rukia said, her tone cool.
"Some no mai, Tsukishiro!" (First Dance, White Moon!)
The white ribbon spun, tracing a circle in the air before plunging into the ground. A wide circle of frost spread from beneath her feet, encasing the grass and rocks in solid ice.
Miyako didn't move. No flash step, no retreat.
In fact, he let the ice swallow his feet entirely.
"Eh?! Are you serious?" Rukia blinked. "That cold air earlier was just to check the range of my Tsukishiro. Since you're still standing there, you'll be frozen solid."
Miyako sighed. "Yare yare… you talk too much during battle, Rukia-san."
"What?!"
"I wasn't frozen because I couldn't dodge. I chose not to dodge."
With a sharp stomp, his feet shattered the ice around him as if it were nothing.
"My Zanpakutō's abilities happen to counter your Tsukishiro perfectly."
Miyako raised his bow and released a reiryoku arrow directly at her.
"As long as I don't stand inside your ice circle, that technique is useless. I let you trap me on purpose so I could analyze the way it spreads and reacts."
His eyes gleamed. "And thanks to your little explanation, I won't fall for it again."
"Tch… Mou! You don't have to say it like that!" Rukia shouted as she dodged the incoming arrow, her face flushed with embarrassment.
"I won't explain next time!" she huffed, gripping Sode no Shirayuki tightly and raising it again, holding it level with her chest.
"Then come at me," Miyako said, voice calm and eyes sharp. "Let's see what Sode no Shirayuki can really do."