Chapter 3 : Fight
A little bit of wine boosts one's courage?
Will drinking kill someone?
Rukia couldn't help but be stunned.
This was the first time she had ever heard such reasoning for drinking.
What shocked Rukia even more was that Kuroba had managed to swipe the wine from her person without her noticing.
She was only a recruit Shinigami, but she was confident her skills were far superior to someone who hadn't even entered the Shin'ō Academy.
"Oi, brat — you think getting drunk makes you dangerous? Hate to break it to you, but you're facing demons here!" The Black Raider Kazama grinned ferociously.
"Go on then — let me see how you're planning to kill me once you're good and drunk!"
Boom!
Kazama took the lead, stomping forward.
Despite its massive body, it didn't look clumsy at all — like a monkey, it could leap seven or eight meters in a single step.
In just a few bounds, the gust of wind he raised made Rukia's face change color.
At this range, there was no time to chant and use Kidō.
The few dozen meters between them were closed in the blink of an eye.
Most importantly, Kuroba, who had stolen her wine gourd, was still standing there swaying unsteadily, shaking the gourd, completely unaware that the massive spiked club in Kazama's hand was descending upon his head.
Remembering how Shiba Kaien had once sacrificed his life for her, Rukia suppressed the sliver of dissatisfaction she felt towards this ignorant drunkard, Kuroba.
She took a light step, pushing Shunpō to its limit.
Thud!
A dull sound of impact suddenly reverberated.
Rukia had stepped in front of Kuroba just in time.
She gripped her Zanpakutō with both hands and raised it straight up, using it to block the giant spiked club.
The tremendous impact made Rukia feel as if she'd been rammed by a rhinoceros — the energy inside her churned violently.
A powerful shock ran through her hands as her slender body staggered back seven or eight steps before she barely managed to steady herself.
A sharp pain shot through her wrists. Crimson blood seeped out, and Rukia's face instantly paled.
The mutated Black Raider Kazama's strength was simply too great.
A single strike carried the force of a thousand pounds.
This was something even a Shinigami proficient in Hakuda, skilled in using their body's strength, would find difficult to achieve.
"Tch, didn't think a little girl like you could stop one of my swings. Shame for you — that was just half my strength," the Black Raider Kazama laughed again.
The muscles of his right arm, gripping the giant club, bulged up instantly like balloons.
The prominent veins gave a feeling of coiling dragons, full of explosive power.
Seeing the arm, now visibly thicker, Rukia's face turned deathly pale.
The previous strike had already injured her hands.
If she tried to block this next one, her arms would surely be torn to shreds and rendered completely useless!
Escape!
As a recruit Shinigami, the cold principle that Byakuya Kuchiki had drilled into her surfaced instinctively in Rukia's mind: The weak only hold others back.
She wasn't suited for the battlefield. She had no right to be on the battlefield.
It was precisely for this reason that Byakuya, using his noble influence, had arranged for her to be in the weakest Purification Squad, handling simple soul cleansing duties.
"Hic… now that's good wine. Smooth, hot, makes you wanna sing! Life's short — wine's life, life's wine, yeah!"
The drunken mutter came at the worst possible moment.
Rukia's mind went blank.
No!
To be precise — she was about to explode!
When could she have imagined that in such a life-or-death moment, while she was fighting desperately for someone else, that person would be standing off to the side drinking and watching like it's a show?
Was this even human?
No!
Was this even a proper soul?
Faced with this utterly absurd scene, Rukia suppressed her rage and shouted.
"Shiba Kuroba! Why are you still standing there drinking?! Why haven't you run?! Out here, even one mistake can get other people killed!"
The words left her mouth — and instantly froze her expression.
Because she'd heard them before.
From her brother, Byakuya Kuchiki.
His cold judgment after Shiba Kaien died in front of her.
Ever since, those words had chained her soul, making her instinctively fear the battlefield.
Is it because I'm weak again? Am I about to drag another person to their death?
The thought shook her.
"Hic… Rukia, didn't you say you'd get me some peanuts? Wine's better when you've got peanuts… you're so considerate…" Kuroba slurred, still drunk out of his mind.
He was completely unaware that Rukia- teeth clenched, face dark- had just been yanked brutally out of a painful memory.
A series of ethereal prompt sounds rang in his mind.
[Ding! Congratulations, Host, on tasting fine wine for the first time. Reward obtained: Masterful Hakuda!]
In the world of Shinigami, combat skills are divided into four main arts: Zanjutsu (Swordsmanship), Hakuda (Hand-to-Hand), Hohō (Movement), and Kidō (Demon Arts), collectively known as the Four Shinigami Combat Arts.
Proficiency is ranked as Basic, Skilled, Excellent, and Masterful.
Hakuda represents a Shinigami's martial arts skills.
If Kuroba weren't currently dizzy from the drink, he would be absolutely thrilled by the flood of Hakuda knowledge appearing in his mind.
Perhaps Masterful Hakuda couldn't compare to high-level Kidō, Shunpō, or a Zanpakutō's power.
But cultivated to the absolute peak, reaching the level of someone like Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, one could obliterate an Adjuchas with a single punch. Adjuchas are entities just below the Espada level, the evolved form of Gillian-class Menos, and are among the elite in Hueco Mundo.
It could be said that destroying an Adjuchas with one punch represents the absolute pinnacle of physical power.
"You little punk! Sitting there drinking and talking big like I don't exist?! Fine then — I'll smash you first, then kill that woman after!"
The Black Raider Kazama let out a furious roar and charged again.
In the past, the very sight of his transformed demonic body was enough to make souls tremble.
Even a Shinigami like Rukia had been sent flying by his casual strike.
That fed his pride.
But now, to have such overwhelming strength utterly ignored — that was humiliation.
"The boss is right! Noble trash like that wouldn't last a single hit!"
"Yeah, let's smash that arrogant noble first — then torture the Shinigami in front of him! Let's see if he's still drunk after that!"
"…!"
The nearby demons that were watching them from all directions suddenly surrounded them.
Rukia's face turned completely white.
She was a Shinigami, but she couldn't bear the idea of being toyed with and tortured by these monsters.
That was worse than death.
But could she beat Kazama, whose arm now looked like a log?
Her heart gave the answer before her mouth did.
She unconsciously took a half-step back.
And like a curse, her brother's words resurfaced in her mind once again.
["The primary duty of a liability… is to learn how to run."]