Kyōsuke Kuchiki's True Combat Strength Revealed! Soul Society in Shock! (Continued)

Back then, Kenpachi Zaraki had experienced the joy of fighting a master to the death for the first time.

He was afraid that if he accidentally killed Retsu Unohana, no one else would be able to give him that joy.

So, to treasure this hard-won opponent, Kenpachi Zaraki had chosen to seal his own power.

He had sealed more and more of his strength until it matched that of the First Kenpachi, Retsu Unohana.

From then on, whenever he encountered a powerful enemy and faced a desperate situation, this monster could keep releasing even greater power!

His Reiatsu and imposing aura grew fiercer and fiercer, drawing closer and closer to the level of "One-Sword Shura."

Against an enemy like this, even someone as powerful as Kyōsuke Kuchiki had to be careful.

"Bakudō #61, Six Rods Prison of Light!"

He swept a finger through the air, and six enormous golden rods of light, as thick as city walls, appeared in midair in an instant!

Boom!

The next second, the six rods snapped together, slamming Kenpachi Zaraki between them!

Six deep trenches were gouged into the ground, kicking up clouds of dust that filled the sky!

With the 96% Heaven Communicating Talisman Art empowering him, every Kidō Kyōsuke Kuchiki used possessed earth-shaking might.

He was a mobile artillery battery in every sense of the word, one man matching the full might of hundreds or even thousands of Kidō Corps members.

"He won!"

Yoruichi Shihōin's eyes lit up, and a delighted smile immediately spread across her face.

After all, Kenpachi Zaraki had received no training. He fought like a beast, relying solely on instinct and frenzy.

When it came to overall strength, Kyōsuke was the strongest after all!

She shifted her feet slightly, ready to use Shunpo to go over to him.

But just then, Kyōsuke Kuchiki struck again.

"Bakudo #81, Dankū!"

Without a moment's hesitation, he spun around and raised a hand. Eight translucent walls appeared around him in an instant, enclosing him completely.

A short distance away, Yoruichi froze.

In the distance, she glimpsed a figure bursting out of the dust!

At its tip was a flash of cold light, unmistakably from a blade14!

He still wasn't dead?!

Stunned, she involuntarily looked toward the Six Rods Prison of Light.

Right in the center of the six rods of light...

A huge hole had been blasted through them!

Kenpachi Zaraki had escaped through it, evading the restraint.

"Th... that works too?"

Her mouth hung open without her realizing it, and Yoruichi didn't even know what to say.

The enormous size and city-wall thickness of the rods showed just how powerful Kyōsuke Kuchiki's Six Rods Prison of Light was.

But... but Kenpachi Zaraki had blasted through it so easily!

He'd even had time to pick up another weapon...

Yoruichi suddenly felt that she shouldn't have come along with Kyōsuke Kuchiki today.

One was a monster who had rejected the name "Kenpachi"; the other was a monster who fully deserved it.

Wouldn't she have been perfectly happy being the Second Division Captain, specializing in Hakuda and Shunpo?

Why had she come along just to make herself miserable?

For a moment, Yoruichi fell silent.

Just as Yoruichi stood there in astonishment, a somewhat familiar voice suddenly sounded behind her.

"Yoruichi?"

"Why are you here?"

Hearing the voice, Yoruichi finally came back to her senses and hurriedly turned around.

The battle before her was so shocking that it had taken up almost all her attention.

As a result, she hadn't even noticed when someone had come up behind her.

She glanced at the person behind her and raised an eyebrow.

"Kensei?"

Indeed, the newcomer was the Captain of the Ninth Division, Kensei Muguruma.

He had dozens of squad members with him.

Yoruichi glanced at them and found their faces somewhat familiar. They were probably among the strongest members of the Ninth Division.

"Ah, right. You're the Captain of the Ninth Division. Arresting the villains and thugs in Rukongai has always been your job."

"Didn't Mashiro Kuna come this time?" Yoruichi asked, as though something had occurred to her.

"She went to investigate something else... but what's going on here?"

Kensei Muguruma nodded, unable to keep his expression from shifting as he looked at the scene before him.

A little while ago, they had sensed an unfamiliar, intensely powerful Reiatsu here.

So Kensei Muguruma had led his squad members over to investigate.

He hadn't expected to find a scene like this, one that could only be described as a natural disaster.

It wasn't as though he had never seen Soul Reaper captains fight each other.

But this was the first time he had seen a battle in which the surrounding space was completely controlled by Reiatsu and everything nearby was crushed to powder.

Every blow the two exchanged made Kensei Muguruma's heart pound with fear and his blood boil with excitement.

Even if Kensei Muguruma released Tekken Tachikaze, he couldn't unleash an assault like that.

The Ninth Division Soul Reapers behind Kensei Muguruma all wore astonished expressions as well.

In midair, two vast waves of Reiatsu collided again and again. Kyōsuke Kuchiki and Kenpachi Zaraki moved in every direction at such speed that their figures were almost impossible to see; only a lingering afterimage could be caught.

Yet even moving at such high speed, neither of them fell behind!

From beginning to end, they kept pace with astonishing precision, their figures locked in combat as though they had become one!

Each time their powerful Reiatsu collided, it blasted the surrounding streets and houses apart, crushing them!

Countless pieces of rubble and broken stone flew into the air, only to be ground to powder by the clashing Reiatsu. All that could fall was dust!

Across the vast area, the only sounds were the crisp clashes of blade tips and the calls of Kidō spells!

The scene before them was so extraordinary that everyone froze!

Looking at the houses reduced to rubble and dust merely by the spreading Reiatsu, the group fell silent.

Th... this is something ordinary Soul Reapers like us can interfere in?

That Reiatsu, that power... even a captain couldn't do that, could they?!

"I know this man is a genius, but this is..."

As a captain of the Gotei 13, Kensei Muguruma was a genius himself.

That was an indisputable fact.

Soul Society had existed for a thousand years, yet fewer than a hundred Soul Reapers were capable of Bankai.

Anyone who released Bankai could have their name recorded in the Great Spirit Book Gallery and become a part of history.

Such a person could naturally be called a genius.

But after seeing the two fight, Kensei Muguruma, a genius himself, began to doubt himself.

Compared to the two men before him, could he really be considered a genius?

Seeing Kensei Muguruma begin to question his life, Yoruichi's lips curved upward, and she nearly laughed.

So it wasn't that she was short-sighted after all.

It was that the two monsters before her were simply too strong, too monstrous!

"Hey, hey, Muguruma, why have you gone quiet?"

A mischievous impulse struck Yoruichi, and her smile grew brighter.

"Kyōsuke's fighting hard over there."

"Aren't you going to help him?"

Kensei Muguruma raised his eyes, looking at a loss for words.

"Yoruichi, knock it off."

What a joke. He might be hot-blooded and loyal, but he wasn't an idiot.

What was the point of casually interfering in a fight between these "human-shaped natural disasters," other than holding them back and getting himself killed?

If he actually charged in, a casual slash from either of them would put him down. He might even get caught in that terrifying Kidō and evaporate in a second.

But speaking of which...

Kensei Muguruma narrowed his eyes and carefully examined the young genius's Reiatsu.

The Reiatsu the young man casually released made him, a captain, break out in a cold sweat and feel pressure unlike anything he had ever experienced.

His expression instantly became extremely strained.

"What's wrong, Kensei? You don't look so good."

Just then, Yoruichi's voice reached him.

"...Nothing."

Kensei Muguruma shook his head, his expression easing slightly.

Now he suddenly understood why Captain-Commander Genryūsai had been willing to fight the Kidō Chief for the young man to bring him into the Gotei 13.

At that age, with that strength... he truly could be called a genius the likes of which Soul Society saw only once in a thousand years!

"A junior like that is really terrifying."

He couldn't help muttering under his breath.

"Yoruichi, I'm impressed you can work alongside him."

"Hey, hey, it's hard on me too, you know?"

Her smile turned a little helpless as Yoruichi shrugged.

"Ever since those two started fighting, all I've done is watch from the sidelines."

"Honestly, it's been a long time since I became a captain that I've felt this completely unable to help!"

"Heh, tell me about it..."

Watching the spectacular battle before them, the two captains fell silent in unison.

All that remained was a trace of melancholy in their eyes.

While Yoruichi and Kensei Muguruma talked, the battle between Kyōsuke Kuchiki and Kenpachi Zaraki continued in the sky.

By this point in the fight, Kenpachi Zaraki's body was almost as battered as the Zanpakuto in his hand.

The ordinary weapon he had picked up earlier had long since been shattered to pieces.

The Asauchi in his hand had grown shorter still and posed no threat.

Earlier, Kenpachi Zaraki had bound his soul to the Asauchi he had picked up, making it his own Zanpakuto.

But he had never placed much hope in that Zanpakuto.

In his eyes, a sword was merely a tool for fighting; only the weak prayed for a more powerful weapon.