Can You Be Faster Than Me? / Finding a Menos Grande to Kick Around Like a Ball

Even a captain might not be able to win, much less Kyōsuke Kuchiki.

The vast majority of them didn't believe Kyōsuke Kuchiki could work another miracle this time.

The Adjuchas was in no hurry to attack.

It seemed to relish the shock and fear on everyone's faces. Unconcealed excitement colored its voice, and the Reiatsu surrounding it quivered restlessly, as though it had tasted some exquisite delicacy.

It extended its long tongue, lined with sharp barbs, and licked its lips before saying greedily:

"Brat, your Reiatsu is pure and powerful. You're exactly to my taste."

"As long as I eat you, I'll never have to worry about regressing again. Roar, roar, roar!"

After delivering those words with emphasis, it suddenly thrust out a hand and pressed down hard.

A powerful burst of Reiatsu erupted like a roaring tidal wave and crashed down on everyone's heads!

In an instant, several faces turned deathly pale. Before they could say a word, they lost consciousness and plummeted from the sky, like insects swatted dead by a Hollow!

The few who remained were no better off.

Though nothing surrounded them, they felt as if they had been buried alive. A crushing, suffocating pressure bore down on them from every direction!

Intense fear spread unchecked like wildly growing vines!

"Cough, cough—"

"Hah... I, I can't..."

"Lord Kuchiki, let's run away together. This thing is too strong..."

Chapter 21: Can You Be Faster Than Me?

Naturally, Kyōsuke Kuchiki had no trouble facing the Adjuchas with its Reiatsu unleashed at full force.

But the people behind him couldn't withstand such a powerful blast of Reiatsu at all.

This time, they were in even worse shape than when they had encountered the Gillian.

In an instant, the trainee Soul Reapers and the full-fledged Soul Reaper exhausted all the Reiatsu in their bodies, and their consciousness began to fade.

Without their realizing it, their bodies had instinctively resisted the Adjuchas's Reiatsu.

But the gap between their powers was far too great, and the result was that they exhausted their strength and pushed their bodies to the limit.

Was a monster like this really something human strength could overcome?

Even Gin Ichimaru turned pale and began to doubt himself.

Were Adjuchas truly so terrifying?!

A moment ago, he had clearly intended to attack!

But the surging Reiatsu had turned into an invisible tentacle, clamping around his throat and instantly interrupting his attempt to release his Shikai.

Now he couldn't break free of its oppressive Reiatsu at all!

He could only stand motionless in the air like a block of wood, watching his teammates fall one by one. Fear...

A familiar thread of fear slowly rose in Gin Ichimaru's heart.

It was the fear he had felt during the seat-ranking competition, when he faced the Kidō Kyōsuke Kuchiki had unleashed at him!

The Adjuchas before him felt more terrifying than those captains.

It wasn't just the difference in strength, but in how intimidating they were.

An ordinary captain wouldn't constantly be thinking of swallowing you whole, flaying you alive, and devouring every last scrap.

The realization made Gin Ichimaru's throat tighten.

He had just been about to find some way to warn Kyōsuke Kuchiki when the young man in front of him raised a hand and gently clenched it into a fist.

Despite facing powerful Reiatsu comparable to that of a captain, his movements were effortless, as though the Adjuchas before him didn't even exist.

Shikai!

Tenfold amplification!

Whoosh—

The next second, vast, surging Reiatsu burst from Kyōsuke Kuchiki!

With that one simple motion, Kyōsuke Kuchiki formed a great net of spiritual power, securely shielding the teammates around him.

The Adjuchas's cold Reiatsu, which had filled the air, was driven out.

Only Kyōsuke Kuchiki's own incomparably pure Reiatsu remained around them.

"Cough, cough!"

"I... I can breathe again..."

"How terrifying. Th-this is an Adjuchas?"

"Why did its Reiatsu have such an effect just from washing over us?!"

"Boo-hoo, I don't want to keep performing Konsō. I-I want to go back to Soul Society!"

"It's fine even if I don't graduate, as long as I can stay alive..."

The Soul Reaper students were like drowning people who had made it back to dry land.

They greedily gulped down fresh air, feeling as though they had been born anew.

A few of them had been frightened out of their wits and were shouting that they wanted to run.

Even if people like them made it back to the Seireitei alive, they probably wouldn't be able to become Soul Reapers. They could only work in support roles or be abandoned altogether.

"Don't panic!" Gin Ichimaru barked, then gave an order. "Slowly back away!"

His thinking was simple: since Kyōsuke Kuchiki, his boss, was taking action to save these people,

he would support him with everything he had, no matter what.

The talent and strength Kyōsuke Kuchiki had displayed were so great that Gin Ichimaru saw hope for his revenge.

So until he achieved that revenge, Gin Ichimaru would be Kyōsuke Kuchiki's most loyal subordinate.

Seeing what Gin Ichimaru was doing, Kyōsuke Kuchiki could more or less guess what he was thinking.

He couldn't help marveling inwardly:

Gin Ichimaru really is a single-minded person. As long as he can achieve his goal, he'll truly pay any price.

In the original story, Gin Ichimaru had also spent a hundred years lying low at Aizen's side before finally finding an opportunity.

If Aizen hadn't had the "Hōgyoku health-lock cheat" activated, Gin Ichimaru would have cleared the game.

"Trying to leave? Did you ask me first?"

Seeing the group of Shin'ō Academy graduates begin to retreat, the Adjuchas moved, becoming an afterimage as it vanished before their eyes.

The trainee Soul Reapers immediately let out ghostly wails and started using Shunpo to retreat.

Realizing something was wrong, Gin Ichimaru hurriedly warned them:

"What a bunch of idiots! Don't turn your backs on the enemy!"

But at that very moment, Gin Ichimaru's body froze.

Though he could neither see nor hear it, an overwhelming fear from deep within still came for him.

In an instant, Gin Ichimaru understood that he was the target!

More desperately still, he couldn't dodge!

I haven't even touched that man's shadow yet. I can't accept this!

At the very end, a face like a flower in a mirror or the moon reflected in water appeared in Gin Ichimaru's mind.

As if teleporting, the Adjuchas appeared directly in front of Gin Ichimaru and reached out with its claws, ready to tear through the Soul Reaper's vitals:

"Silver-haired brat, I'll gladly take your body!"

At that moment, a vivid red was reflected in the Menos Grande's cold eyes.

Clearly, slaughtering living beings gave it great satisfaction and joy.

A dark figure flashed past, and in the nick of time, Kyōsuke Kuchiki, clad in a black Soul Reaper uniform, appeared in front of the Adjuchas.

He said coldly, "You want to touch my people? Did you ask me first?"

Kyōsuke Kuchiki reached out and instantly released Kidō to shield himself and Gin Ichimaru.

The Adjuchas trembled as it looked at Kyōsuke Kuchiki, who had descended like a divine warrior from the heavens. For the first time, its cold, merciless eyes betrayed a violent disturbance.

"Why do you still have so much power?"

"Why is your Shunpo even faster than my Sonído?"

As it spoke, the Menos Grande swung its tail, sending its sharp tail spike stabbing at Gin Ichimaru, who had yet to fully react.

This was killing the man and crushing his heart.

The cunning, cruel Menos Grande meant to kill the Soul Reaper's companion right in front of him.

That way, it could enjoy the Soul Reapers' expressions of pain and despair while dealing a blow to their morale and fighting spirit.

Two birds with one stone!

"Do you even need to ask? It's because I'm strong, of course."

As Kyōsuke Kuchiki spoke, he waved his right hand, placing a shield of spiritual power in front of Gin Ichimaru's chest and blocking the Adjuchas's hidden attack for him.

With Captain-level Reiatsu amplified tenfold, a shield formed from compressed spiritual power alone possessed tremendous defensive strength.

When it came to Shunpo and high-speed combat, Kyōsuke Kuchiki feared no one.

After all, his regular sparring partners were the Flash Goddess Yoruichi and Byakuya Kuchiki, two masters of Shunpo.

Chapter 22: Finding a Menos Grande to Kick Around Like a Ball

With no worries behind him, Kyōsuke Kuchiki didn't hesitate. He flashed forward and slashed at the Adjuchas.

Under his spiritual perception, everything around him seemed to stand still.

He could see every tiny movement his enemy made.

Without that kind of observational ability, using Shunpo in combat was courting death. He might even end up "delivering himself to the enemy's doorstep."

In an instant, Kyōsuke Kuchiki appeared behind the Adjuchas.

By the time he landed, the Adjuchas had vanished.

Kyōsuke Kuchiki's Shunpo was so fast that even this Adjuchas couldn't use a Garganta to move through space.

It could only use Sonído to move quickly.

Yet as soon as the Adjuchas moved a short distance away, it let out a scream.

Its enormous beastlike arm had been severed at the root, and the intense pain sent the Adjuchas into a rage.

"How dare you... how dare you..." As the Adjuchas roared, its body shuddered, and its severed right arm grew back.

"High-Speed Regeneration?" Kyōsuke Kuchiki wasn't surprised in the least. "That's how you negated the damage from my Thunder Method, isn't it? Let's see how many times you can regenerate."

Just then, Gin Ichimaru, having narrowly escaped death, gave Kyōsuke Kuchiki a grateful look.

Then he turned and left without hesitation, calling to the few remaining trainee Soul Reapers:

"Go!"

He was in a very bad mood.

Gin Ichimaru could understand being weaker than the captains of the Seireitei, and weaker than Kyōsuke Kuchiki, a genius whose talent far surpassed his own.

But he hadn't expected the gap between his strength and Kyōsuke Kuchiki's to be this vast.

It reminded him of the helplessness he had felt facing that man.

Gin Ichimaru hated how helpless he had been.

At that moment, his pride had been utterly shattered!

Even the few muddleheaded trainee Soul Reapers who still wanted to help were forcibly dragged away by the full-fledged Soul Reaper.

The stationed Soul Reaper understood the situation clearly: the most they could do was avoid becoming a burden or getting in the way.