Facing Zaraki's menacing strike, Kōe showed not a trace of panic. He deftly spun the short sword in his hand, forcefully thrusting it upward with a backhand grip. Zaraki's longsword grazed past his shoulder, striking nothing but air.
If a single strike like that had finished Kōe off, it would have been far too boring. The smile on Zaraki's face grew even more crazed as he shifted his longsword from a thrust into a heavy, downward slash.
Using the momentum, Kōe slightly bent his knees and suddenly arched his back. The short sword in his hand spun once more. Like a lunging black panther, he drove his gleaming claws straight toward his prey's chest.
Zaraki didn't pull back his sword to defend, nor did he choose to retreat. As the longsword in his right hand chopped straight down, his left hand—resembling a withered branch—shot out like lightning, grabbing Kōe's wrist and stopping it firmly in front of his chest.
At that exact moment, Kōe made a similar choice. He threw his left arm horizontally under Zaraki's right arm, halting the heavily chipped blade just millimeters above his own head.
"Finally showing some motivation, huh."
"You're not so bad yourself!"
The moment the words left their mouths, Kōe and Zaraki both yanked their right hands free. Their right feet clashed together, and they simultaneously sprang backward. The instant their left feet touched the ground, they pushed off their toes and charged at each other again, short sword and longsword colliding once more.
Terrifying, boundless Reiatsu erupted from both men simultaneously. Bean-sized raindrops began a desperate flight, and the sound of their clashing blades echoed like explosive thunder. The storm had arrived...
"What a pair of monsters." On the roof of the Shin'ō Academy, a bald man wiped the rain from his face, though it seemed utterly useless. The relentless downpour still gave him a suffocating feeling.
"That 'true Kenpachi' those stubborn old fools keep yelling about is actually pretty strong, Yumichika!"
"He's a bit more beautiful than the Captain." A slightly effeminate voice sounded from behind the bald man. The speaker was an elegantly dressed man holding a paper umbrella, named Ayasegawa Yumichika. "Though compared to me, he's still lacking."
After speaking, Yumichika ran a hand through his hair, looking quite pleased with himself. It was hard to tell if he had come here to watch a duel or if he mistakenly thought this was a fashion show.
As his comrade, Madarame Ikkaku was already used to this. Despite following Big Bro Zaraki for so long, this guy Yumichika was still as vain as ever—maybe even more so?
Both he and Yumichika had followed Zaraki Kenpachi from the Rukongai to the Seireitei. Compared to Zaraki, who had defeated the Tenth Generation Kenpachi immediately upon arrival, they seemed far more ordinary, having completed the full six years at the Shin'ō Academy before joining Squad 11.
Ikkaku had always felt that he and Zaraki were the same kind of people—craving a thrilling, all-out battle where even dying would leave them satisfied. Just watching a fight like this made his blood boil, even if it was a bit demoralizing to witness the gap in strength.
In the clearing below the roof, two blurred figures continuously crossed paths, like two gods slaughtering each other in the storm. Every minute movement kicked up monstrous waves of force. No one else had the privilege of witnessing them clearly; only they could track each other's movements.
*This damn rain!* Ikkaku irritably wiped the water from his face, but it was still useless. Right now, he only had one thought: *Could those two down there please pick another day to fight?*
The answer, naturally, was no. Zaraki Kenpachi looked at Kōe, who was practically pressed up against him. Such an interesting opponent truly delighted him. No one could interrupt their battle.
He still remembered their fight in the Zaraki District a century ago. After all, it was one of the few battles in his memory that could be called truly satisfying. Compared to back then, Kōe was performing even stronger.
Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say he was much more invested in the fight.
Just like right now. Zaraki twisted his wrist, blocking a slash aimed at his throat with a highly awkward posture. He took a half-step back to get a more comfortable grip on his sword, but Kōe immediately closed the distance, appearing behind him. At some point, Kōe had switched to a reverse grip on his short sword, viciously stabbing toward Zaraki's heart.
He had never felt his sword was so inconvenient to swing! At this moment, Kōe was clinging to him like a snake, making it impossible for him to fully extend his limbs.
Zaraki violently twisted his body to the right and leaned left, dodging the short blade thrusting from behind. At the same time, the longsword in his right hand swept diagonally, aiming straight for Kōe's face. Kōe neither blocked nor retreated. He ducked under the sweeping longsword, appearing right in front of Zaraki, and swiped his blade backhandedly toward Zaraki's throat.
During his first battle with Kōe, although Kōe's techniques were bizarre, he had been unwilling to take even the slightest risk. He switched between offense and defense rapidly, but he would never abandon his defense just to land an attack.
But now, his opponent was making high-risk moves. Even though a short sword was more agile in close-quarters combat, the risks involved were equally immense. A single mistake in such maneuvers would result in dying on the spot.
Stepping back with his left foot to barely steady his body, Zaraki held his sword vertically in front of him, narrowly blocking the throat-slitting blade. With the cold steel pressed against his face, a raging fire ignited in his heart. *I might actually die this time.*
"You know Bankai, right? Because if you don't, you're in danger." Zaraki raised his left hand and grabbed the black eyepatch covering his right eye, speaking in a low, haunting tone. "From here on out, I'm going all out!"
Seeing this, Kōe's pupils violently contracted, as if Zaraki had just done something utterly terrifying.
Mastering Bankai was a prerequisite for becoming a captain of the Gotei 13, and this held true even for the successive generations of Kenpachi. Of course, it wasn't a strict requirement, but rather an implicit one. After all, for Shinigami who relied primarily on their Zanpakutō, Bankai was the ultimate symbol of strength.
There was an exception to this rule, and that was the Zaraki Kenpachi standing before him. Forget Bankai—he hadn't even achieved Shikai. Yet, he possessed an unimaginably massive Reiatsu, one that was not inferior to, and perhaps even greater than, the various captains who had released their Bankai.
However, because Kenpachi was extremely inept at controlling his Reiatsu, he usually relied on the eyepatch over his right eye—an item capable of endlessly absorbing Reiryoku—to suppress his colossal Reiatsu.
And now he was taking off that eyepatch. What did that mean? It meant Kōe was about to face a captain fighting at full strength, equivalent to releasing a Bankai.
He could handle an opponent like this, but would the Shin'ō Academy, located just a short distance away, survive their battle unscathed?
The reason Kōe had engaged Zaraki with such an aggressive style just now wasn't because he had suddenly changed his nature. It was to prevent Zaraki from using wide-scale attacks like his Reiatsu slashes, thereby protecting the Shin'ō Academy from destruction.
But if Zaraki unleashed his full power, how should he respond? Should he continue secretly using techniques similar to Hanki to cancel out and weaken Zaraki's Reiatsu? Or should he go with the flow, release Kōki's Bankai, and make the 'most logical' response?
As for the task of protecting the Shin'ō Academy... feeling the gentle, water-like Reiatsu behind him, Kōe didn't know if that person would properly protect the academy.
At the same time, the owner of that water-like Reiatsu stood quietly in a second-floor classroom of the Shin'ō Academy, watching the two men below with a smile.
"What will you do, Kōe Shihouin?"