Chapter 252: Backup!
There was no getting around it. Isshin Shiba had the impulsiveness of someone young and sure of himself.
Getting blindsided by the Hollow alt, taking some actual damage, and his first response wasn't to call for backup. It was to get angry and hit back.
No situational judgment. No cold thinking.
Those were the observations forming in Aizen Sosuke's head. But close behind them came something that functioned as a corrective.
Said differently, those same traits probably amounted to something else entirely.
Confidence in his own strength.
The thought settled.
Isshin moved forward, expression hardening, Zanpakuto gripped tight in both hands.
His reiatsu was visibly gathering. Which meant.
Here it comes.
"Burn, Engetsu!"
The heat and light that erupted outward were immediate and intense. Standing inside that blazing glow, Isshin's coat whipped in the wind around him. He fixed his eyes on the target, didn't hesitate for a moment, planted one foot, and launched himself like an arrow released at point-blank range, charging straight at the Hollow alt.
A direct frontal confrontation?
Not a bad choice. Particularly because the Hollow alt was most comfortable with exactly that.
The alt's knees bent, ready to receive it. And then Isshin's eyes narrowed and he shifted, bringing his blade across in a horizontal sweep.
The direction of his reiatsu inverted in an instant. The power that had been spreading outward around him collapsed inward and concentrated on the blade. The pale blue current that had surrounded him was swallowed by Engetsu's flame and converted, silently, into a deeper, fiercer orange.
"Getsuga Tensho!"
The roar came with the strike. The crescent of blade-light tore forward, enormous and fast, fast enough that the alt had no real window to evade.
Too late.
Both forces slammed into each other.
The blade-light and the alt's crossed arms locked together, grinding out flashes of brilliant heat between them. After only a few seconds of standoff the compressed energy reached its limit and detonated.
The alt disappeared into the blinding eruption of light and heat.
Watching from his position, Aizen exhaled quietly.
"Not bad."
He had to admit it. Isshin Shiba had a genuine talent for combat.
The aggressive charge had been bait. It drew the alt into a positional read, then the moment the opening existed, the strategy flipped completely: pull back, switch to ranged suppression, create distance.
Mature tactics.
If Aizen had never witnessed Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni's actual flames, he might have felt something closer to real admiration in this moment. But he had seen Yamamoto's power more than once by now, and as fire-type Zanpakuto went, Engetsu wasn't operating in the same bracket. His expectations for Isshin had been measured accordingly.
With the hit landed, Isshin didn't waste any time.
He scanned the area, found his bearing, and started moving to exit the battlefield.
Exactly as Aizen had predicted. The fury and impatience he had shown earlier were a performance. Calculated misdirection, not actual recklessness. The goal had been to buy enough time to open up distance and slip away.
If he could break contact, he could get out.
This thing is seriously strong. Could it be one of the individuals the Captain-Commander mentioned?
Going one-on-one here isn't a good position. Even if reaching the Gotei 13 wasn't possible right now, the minimum was to find...
The thought didn't finish.
Because in the next instant, a silhouette dropped out of the sky like a meteor, driving directly down toward Isshin.
That's not possible.
Getsuga Tensho was the Shiba clan's signature technique. Between the attack itself and the flame enchantment that came with Engetsu, even against the Captain-Commander that shouldn't have landed without effect.
Isshin's eyes went slightly wide. On reflex he raised Engetsu, bracing for the intercept.
The Hollow alt's shadow twisted faintly.
And vanished.
Where did it go?
The thought barely had time to form. Before any movement could happen, a massive wave of danger hit him from the side.
The shape in the air was just the afterimage of the high-speed movement. The real thing was right next to him.
Sonido.
Similar in nature to shunpo but optimized for short-range displacement. Isshin didn't have detailed knowledge of the technique. It wasn't his area. But he didn't need it. As a captain-level fighter, he could read the raw output clearly enough.
This thing had closed the distance without him noticing, in almost no time at all.
It's too strong. This is way too strong.
A heavy punch swung down toward him.
No good. No way to dodge in time.
And then, right beside him, a calm and steady voice.
"Get back, Captain Isshin."
His body moved before his mind finished processing it. Isshin jumped backward.
As the distance opened, the voice caught up with him.
"Hado #88. Hiryugekizokushintenraiho."
The words landed and so did the technique. A column of brilliant yellow light cracked across the sky like a thunderbolt unleashed from above, striking the descending silhouette dead-on.
Like a golden dragon surging forward, the torrent of power swallowed the small figure whole and kept pushing, kept driving.
The Hollow alt crossed both arms in front of it. Held for a moment.
Just a moment.
Crack. Crack. Crack. Boom.
The reiatsu mass ignited in the most explosive way possible. The alt had no time to mount any real resistance before it was knocked clean off its trajectory and sent flying.
Isshin blinked.
Then his expression broke into something close to pure relief.
Because there, not far to his left, was Matsushita Yusuke.
Right hand still extended, index finger pointing forward. The last of the reiatsu still shimmering off him, still hot, his coat moving in the residual draft from the discharge.
He met Isshin's eyes and gave him an easy, reassuring smile.
He lowered his right hand slowly. The heat was still bleeding off it.
"Sorry. Did I keep you waiting?"
Isshin's chest was rising and falling visibly. He finally let the tension go, and what came out was the expression of someone who had just been pulled back from the edge.
He exhaled long and slow.
"Not at all. Perfect timing."
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