As night fell, Amamiya Miyako sat on her bed and drew out her Asauchi. Today, he planned to continue communicating with his Zanpakuto, but Amamiya Miyako still had no countermeasure for dealing with a Quincy.
'I can only fight and see. I hope I can discover something during actual combat.' As his consciousness sank deeper, Amamiya Miyako once again arrived in his inner world.
"How diligent you are. I thought you'd research a bit more before daring to seek me out again."
Amamiya Miyako stood on a utility pole, the pitch-black street still clearly visible under the sparse lamplight.
"If I can't find a method, then I'll solve it through battle."
"That's good, but if you just fail again and again, doesn't that make you seem a bit foolish?" The black-haired boy scoffed.
"Then let's try it. We'll see if I'm truly foolish, or if you're defeated by me." As soon as Amamiya Miyako finished speaking, he immediately used Shunpo to approach him.
The black-haired boy wasn't in a hurry to get away. "Your Zanjustu isn't yet at a level that would overwhelm me. Even if you're wary of my Quincy abilities, there's no need to be so hasty."
Amamiya Miyako approached but didn't immediately swing his sword. He knew that relying solely on Zanjustu would make it difficult to cause direct damage.
"Bakudo No. 21: Sekienton." Amamiya Miyako didn't chant the incantation, directly using the abandoned chant method to cast Sekienton near the black-haired boy.
Amamiya Miyako's proficiency with Sekienton hadn't reached the point where he could completely abandon the incantation, so he could only reduce the range of the smoke, aiming to temporarily obscure the boy's vision.
"Obscure my vision? Then let's see." The black-haired boy wasn't in a hurry to escape the smoke's range, wanting to see Amamiya Miyako's subsequent actions.
Amamiya Miyako actually had an idea when he first saw the black-haired boy use the Quincy Cross. Relying on his Shinigami level, truly defeating him might still be a bit difficult. What's more, the boy could read his memories, and the Quincy abilities in those memories were even more troublesome.
Switching his sword to his left hand, Amamiya Miyako quickly slashed at the boy.
"Naive." The boy scoffed, turning his body slightly and easily dodging the slash.
But Amamiya Miyako's intention wasn't to truly hit him. His freed right hand quickly reached out to grab the black-haired boy's hand.
"You want to grab me? But using your hand directly instead of Kido, isn't that too arrogant?" The black-haired boy gathered reishi at his feet, intending to use Hirenkyaku to retreat and dodge Amamiya Miyako's grab.
"I know, even Kido probably can't catch you, let alone my physical body." Amamiya Miyako was very calm; this wasn't his goal from the beginning. "And my goal is this."
Amamiya Miyako reached out to him, his target not the black-haired boy, but... the silver cross floating in the boy's hand.
The black-haired boy didn't consider the cross as part of his body, so he naturally overlooked the distance between the cross and Amamiya Miyako.
With the breaking of the chain, the cross in the black-haired boy's hand finally reached Amamiya Miyako's hand.
"Oh? What good is getting this?" The black-haired boy was indifferent, but a faint hint of expectation secretly rose within him.
"You said it before, when we first met. A 'Shinigami' must acquire power in the Shinigami way." Amamiya Miyako looked at the silver cross he had taken.
"Then this cross represents your power. And I will use the Shinigami way to take your power." Amamiya Miyako put away his sword. This so-called sword was merely a product of his mind's visualization, carrying no power. But this cross was different. Although the black-haired boy found it, in the inner world, it was the manifestation of his power.
"And this." Amamiya Miyako held up the silver cross, "carries a trace of your power."
Amamiya Miyako closed his eyes, recalling his first attempt at the True Spiritual Arts Academy. He used his instincts to awaken that power.
The black-haired boy looked at Amamiya Miyako with satisfaction. Around Amamiya Miyako, reishi slowly began to gather in his hand.
The silver cross in Amamiya Miyako's hand began to float, and then reishi gradually converged on the cross, extending upwards and downwards from the cross as its center, gradually forming a... blue and white bow.
Amamiya Miyako opened his eyes and looked at the bow in his hand. Indeed, it was easier than when he first used Lingzi Jisou.
"Come on, let's truly begin the second round." Amamiya Miyako raised the spiritual bow in his hand, and with his other hand, he gathered reishi to form an arrow, aiming it at the boy in front of him.
"Hahahahaha, this is truly good. I was right, you fellow, you truly delight me." The black-haired boy covered his face with one hand and his stomach with the other, laughing heartily.
"But, you only took a little bit of my power, so you can have it." The black-haired boy reined in his smile, raised his hand to gather reishi, and quickly formed a blue and white spiritual bow.
"Let's begin, second round." He also gathered reishi to form an arrow, aiming it at Amamiya Miyako.
'Miyako, you still don't know what my power truly represents. Discover it quickly, my power isn't as simple as a Shinigami's...'
The two looked at each other, and then, simultaneously released their bowstrings.
...
Thirteenth Division, Living Quarters. Amamiya Miyako slowly opened his eyes and let out a long sigh.
This time, he still failed. Even though he used the same ability against him, the black-haired boy could continuously reproduce Quincy techniques from Amamiya Miyako's memories, while Amamiya Miyako himself tried but failed.
His Zanpakuto truly lacked martial virtue. As a Zanpakuto, using Quincy abilities was one thing; he'd consider that a peculiarity of the Zanpakuto. But, you find other Quincy techniques from my memories, yet I can't use them.
Amamiya Miyako, using a budget version of Quincy abilities, was fighting a black-haired boy using a Pro Max version of Quincy abilities. Amamiya Miyako felt like crying without tears; his Zanpakuto was a bit too unfair.
'What a headache. I can only use Lingzi Jisou, so for him, the threat level is negligible.' Amamiya Miyako scratched his head with both hands.
Then he would just have to quickly improve his strength and challenge a Seat Officer. Going to the Human World and convincing Ishida Ryūken became the top priority.
Amamiya Miyako had just read the Thirteenth Division handbook given by Ukitake today. According to the handbook, many Seat Officers were stationed in the Human World, but Karakura Town was generally handled by high-ranking Seat Officers.
Perhaps because Karakura Town was a highly spiritual area, the dispatched Seat Officers would not be too weak. So Amamiya Miyako's goal was to challenge a high-ranking Seat Officer and obtain the right to be stationed in Karakura Town.
Currently, although Karakura Town had already been targeted by Aizen, before Kisuke Urahara exposed his Hōgyoku, Aizen shouldn't have too many arrangements. As long as he didn't contact Kurosaki ichigo's family, there shouldn't be much of a problem. So, what Amamiya Miyako needed to consider was only how to persuade Ishida Ryūken to teach him Quincy abilities.
'I only have about two years left; not much time for me to learn. If I miss this period, it will be even harder to learn Quincy abilities later.'
Amamiya Miyako thought, and soon fell asleep, awaiting the next day.