Blood burst from her chest with a wet splatter.
Kurenai looked down at the spreading red across her uniform. Her mind hadn't caught up to the pain, hadn't registered that the warmth soaking her ribs was hers. She hadn't even felt it happen.
Another cough ripped through her-pop-and blood splashed from her lips. Her body gave out. She dropped to the ground without resistance.
What had shot through her was black and red-a Cero. It tore through her chest clean and kept on blasting forward, flattening the building behind her into rubble, carving up the structure like dry paper.
Choji and Nagisa Yuu stood frozen in place.
"Run! If Kurenai were alive, we might've had some chance… but now? The two of us don't stand a chance at hell."
Nagisa Yuu grabbed their arm and bolted. The two disappeared in the opposite direction of the destruction.
-
Thud.
Kurenai's body struck the dirt. Her vision split-half sky, half blocked by soil and debris. Her breath came in shallow pulls, weaker every second.
Is this it? Am I dying?
She thought she'd just begun this life-joining the 13th Division, pushing toward vice-captain rank through grit alone.
Was this really how it was ending?
When she went after that Hollow on her own, she'd expected the worst. This wasn't different from what she'd imagined. She was the only one who fell. The others would hang on until backup arrived.
Footsteps echoed nearby.
They didn't hurry-they strode calm and easy, like someone meandering through their garden in late daylight, hands behind their back with nowhere to be. Who was stupid enough to come back now?
She wanted to yell "wait for the medics"-just sit down and stop making things worse-but she couldn't get enough breath to say it aloud.
Kurenai forced her eyes open. The first thing she saw was the bottom of some boots-hands in pockets-a lean body above-and then…the face came into focus.
Yuta.
"Hey!" she barked hoarsely. "Didn't you hear the order? Run!"
Yuta didn't say anything back. He walked right past her-straight toward the Hollow's last position.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Why would he come back?
It couldn't be to save her. That made no sense. Why did he care?
"Idiot…"
"You goddamn-"
"I swear-it's impossible to die in peace around here..."
Her chest screamed when she moved-but she pushed up anyway, dragging herself upright with one trembling arm. Her body screamed enough warnings to fill ten reports-but somewhere below the pain, she dove deeper.
She touched that line-barely-and it clicked.
Her body surged with pressure as Shikai awakened just on the edge of death. Air rushed around her shoulders-wind rising high within the tent of reishi around her frame.
Both hands gripped her Zanpakutō and lifted it forward-
"Fly by… Dragonfly!"
And just like that-the blade vanished from her grip, gone with no trail behind it.
Everything stopped for one heartbeat of silence. Frozen in motion-the world held its breath as green dragonfly wings sliced across the Hollow's skin from nowhere.
Soft-gentle-as if the wind itself had caressed him.
In that moment anyone watching might've sighed at how beautiful it looked-but then-
Crack!
Right down his middle, the Hollow split apart into two halves-and those halves slid off with no resistance-like tofu cracked wide open down the middle. In that empty space where his torso used to be-his spiritual core floated exposed and fractured. Cracks spread fast and shattered it fully in seconds.
Boom!
Light exploded outward as his reiryoku unraveled into particles and faded away. The souls inside scattered. The structure of bodies that had formed him broke into pure spirit dust and floated free into Soul Society's pull for reincarnation.
Kurenai's Zanpakutō reformed back in her hand with no effort-its appearance returned to normal now that Shikai had ended on its own.
"Well done," someone said low behind her.
Kurenai finally collapsed backward into Yuta's waiting arms.
Light formed in Yuta's palm immediately-he rested it on her chest-and granulation filled in over her wound before stitching together fully with no scar left behind.
And then-
Crack!
New tears ripped across space nearby-more than ten Garganta openings burst open around them-and one by one Kilians climbed out and encircled where Yuta stood beside Kurenai.
He propped her gently against the wall and drew his blade slowly by his side-silver light flashed along its edge like moonlight catching steel-and he ran his palm softly over her hair once before stepping away toward the Kilians without another word.
"You rest now," he said without looking back. "Leave this to me."
Kurenai flinched from the pat on her head-it was awkward-no one had done that for her before-but she was too weak to argue. Her head tilted against the wall as she watched Yuta raise his Zanpakutō again. Its polished silver shimmered beneath moonlight leaking in from above-something about it looked different now-
Graceful-
Cold-
Clean-
Like tofu getting cleaved with one push of a knife edge-all those huge Hollows took hits from Yuta's blade and dropped mid-charge without finishing their roars. That sword carved through them cleanly with one swing each time-and none stood up again afterward.
Each swing was fluid and silent-his steps calm and measured. Hollow after Hollow shattered apart between his strikes as if they were weightless mannequins rather than monsters built for war.
Kurenai tried to process what she saw-but black crept into the edges of her vision quickly-and sleep took her within seconds of letting go of control.
-
Above-all of it watched from above-it hadn't gone unnoticed.
Far off overhead stood Aizen Sōsuke with two figures beside him: Gin Ichimaru and Tōsen Kaname.
"Wow," Gin said slowly. "Yuta's Zanpakutō… is it really that insane? Cuts through everything-buildings… Hollow…"
Tōsen nodded slightly beside him-even though he couldn't see-it didn't matter anymore-he could feel everything sharper than most people ever could see it through touch alone.
"That is not an ordinary blade," he said evenly. "What we felt wasn't just cutting power-it's beyond that."
Eyes narrowed as Aizen focused on Yuta's sword-not on its surface-but on what it did to reality itself when swung.
"'Sharp' isn't good enough," Aizen said at last. "His Zanpakutō goes beyond that… it's 'absolute cutting.'"
"No defense prevails against it-no flesh endures it-not even our own abilities or Kidō would hold against that weapon…"
"In front of that edge... there is no enemy."
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