Chapter 31

"?"

Never mind the 11th Division's Eighth Seat—even Byakuya deliberately added a condition forbidding Haruto from using Byakurai when they fought—

Onizuka hadn't used Shunpo just now, so by all rights, he couldn't have blocked Byakurai with the blade of his sword and come away unscathed.

"Your sword..."

"Can it attract lightning?"

Haruto frowned.

Why did it seem as though so many of the Zanpakuto he didn't know about could counter him?

Haruto knew his own weakness well. When caught unprepared, he habitually used Byakurai to fight his opponents; using a special item to exploit that habitual thinking could well have produced the result just now.

"I can be generous and give you a little more time to look for the answer before you die—"

"Brat!"

Seeing that Byakurai had accomplished nothing, Onizuka's grin grew even more vicious. Then he drew the broad blade all the way out of its sheath.

"Crush him!"

A Shikai release command!

Haruto hadn't been surprised that an Eighth Seat could release his Zanpakuto's Shikai.

The strange occurrence just now had naturally drawn Haruto's attention, but the opening while his opponent released his Shikai was precisely the opportunity Haruto had been waiting for—as he had done while sparring with Byakuya, a Soul Reaper releasing his Zanpakuto's Shikai didn't come with a period of invincibility like a Kamen Rider or magical girl transformation.

"Hadō #39."

Byakurai hadn't dealt the damage it should have. His opponent's Zanpakuto, or perhaps some special item he carried, might have been capable of defending against lightning-type Kidō.

When Haruto had tested him just now, he hadn't immediately used an enhanced Byakurai. He had meant to save that move for the moment his opponent released his Shikai, but with the situation changed, Haruto naturally had to change his tactics.

By supplementing the lightning type he specialized in with explosive fire-type Reiatsu, he could form a lightning fireball several times the size of Shakkahō.

"Kongōbaku!"

"Hiss!"

The dozen-odd meters between them vanished in an instant. An intense burning and numbing sensation rapidly closed in on Onizuka as the lightning fireball surged forward.

Haruto naturally wasn't as proficient with it as he was with enhanced Byakurai, but it was still a lightning-type Hadō, his specialty. Against a Seated Officer with Eighth- or Ninth-Class Reii, even if it couldn't defeat him in one move, restraining or even severely injuring him would be no problem.

But.

The instant Kongōbaku struck its target, the lightning fireball that should have exploded instead transformed into several rapidly spinning vortices, like starlight caught by a black hole, and was swiftly sucked into Onizuka...

Into Onizuka's Zanpakuto.

"Boom!"

A tremendous reverberation rang out with the impact.

The weapon in Onizuka's hand no longer resembled a sword in the slightest. Rather than a Zanpakuto, it would have been more fitting to call it a shield—

It was a large rectangular shield, big enough to cover Onizuka's entire body, with a blue-faced, fanged demon carved into its front.

"Brat!"

The shield his Zanpakuto had become was light as air in Onizuka's hand.

"Whatever else you've got, go ahead and show me!"

"..."

Haruto's expression grew more cautious.

"A Zanpakuto that can absorb not just lightning, but all Kidō?"

The limitations Onizuka's Zanpakuto imposed on Haruto were somewhat beyond his expectations.

"..."

"That's unlikely."

But he quickly dismissed the idea.

"If a Zanpakuto like that really existed, it would be far too effective against Kidō-type fighters. Even in the 11th Division, where Kidō isn't valued, he wouldn't have ended up as just the Eighth Seat... This is no longer a question of Reiatsu."

A shield could also be used to smash people, and weapon type wasn't part of the 11th Division's evaluation criteria.

"The 11th Division's intelligence work is almost completely transparent, both internally and externally."

"The Eighth Division would definitely know about a Zanpakuto like that. If I were Shunsui Kyōraku or Shigekuni Yamamoto, I certainly wouldn't let a Soul Reaper with that much potential waste his career like this."

"..."

"Does it have something to do with Reiatsu?"

Haruto rapidly considered his options.

Onizuka's Zanpakuto had to have some limitation, but where exactly did its weakness lie...? Were mid-numbered Kidō not powerful enough, or was Kidō at the level of Seventh-Class Reii unable to break through its defenses?

And there was the ability to draw in Kidō that it had displayed before its Shikai was complete.

In any case, he couldn't stop attacking!

"Hadō #20."

Light shone once more in the palm that had just released Kongōbaku. Completely contained, the radiance condensed into a golden orb of light the size of a volleyball.

"Shōtenkyū!"

"Whoosh!"

The orb shot from Haruto's hand at tremendous speed, traveling in a straight line before striking the upper edge of the shield Onizuka held with pinpoint accuracy.

"Clink."

The orb didn't explode.

The Reiatsu condensed in Shōtenkyū met the same fate as Kongōbaku, completely absorbed the moment it struck the shield.

"Hahahaha!"

Seeing Haruto's Kidō fail once again, Onizuka let out a delighted laugh.

"Brat, if that's all you've got—"

"Boom!"

Onizuka stomped hard on the ground. After a tremor beneath his feet like a miniature earthquake, his massive body rushed toward Haruto at a speed that seemed wildly at odds with his appearance.

It wasn't Shunpo, but it was no slower than Haruto's still-developing Shunpo.

A fierce blast of wind struck Haruto's face.

Onizuka raised the shield like a giant hammer and brought it crashing down on Haruto's head like a world-overturning seal!

"Hadō #54."

Haruto swung his arm forcefully, chanting in an exceptionally steady voice.

"Haien!"

"It's useless!"

Onizuka paid no attention to the Kidō Haruto was about to unleash. The shield crashing down showed no sign of turning to defend.

"Boom!!"

A tremendous crash rang out, and the dirt thrown into the air rained down. Dust instantly obscured the battlefield.

Then—

"Hm?"

Onizuka heaved the shield out of the ground.

The Kidō just now hadn't come at him, and the mighty blow from his Zanpakuto likewise hadn't felt as though it had struck its target.

"Ah!"

"Help!!"

While Onizuka was still hesitating, cries for help like the wailing of ghosts and howling of wolves came from behind him.

He whipped around and saw his four "companions," their bodies being steadily consumed by fiercely burning purplish-red flames.

"What—"

His cry of alarm was only half out when a whisper behind his ear made Onizuka's hair stand on end and alerted him to the problem:

He had gone too long without a fight to the death, and had forgotten that looking away during a battle was an extremely dangerous thing to do.

"Who said..."

Haruto pressed his index and middle fingers together and gently placed them against the center of Onizuka's back.

"Haien was meant for you?"

"Hadō #4."

The distance between them was too short. Whether he tried to pull away or raise his shield to defend, he would never be fast enough to beat Byakurai's release.

"Wait—"

Onizuka only had time to get the first word out before his plea for mercy was drowned out by flickering lightning.

"Byakurai!"

Using Shunpo to get behind an opponent, then running a Zanpakuto straight through his heart—that was Senka, one of the Shihōin secret techniques famed alongside Utsusemi. What Haruto reproduced now was the Kidō version of Senka, the final strike he had failed to land in the Live-Blade Match.

"Crackle!!"

The pale blue lightning splashed a barely perceptible, irregular blot of ink across the clear, bright sky.

"..."

"Thud!"

Onizuka slowly toppled backward.

At last, his Zanpakuto lost its shield form and clattered to the ground, and his massive body lost all signs of life.

"..."

"Hadō #54: Haien."

A purplish-red flame ignited at Haruto's fingertip. With a flick of his finger, it blossomed across Onizuka's corpse like a vivid flower of fire.

It quickly burned away every trace of his existence in this world.

"Phew."

Haruto rested one hand on his sword hilt and let out a short, pent-up breath.

"You claimed to be good at disposing of corpses and destroying evidence..."

"But Haien is clearly better for that."

"Haien."

This Hadō, ranked number fifty-four, wasn't particularly good at breaking through defenses or inflicting damage. It specialized solely in persistence and extreme heat; it had considerable uses in many everyday and research settings, and its efficiency at destroying objects made it uniquely useful among mid-level Hadō—

It was known as little Amaterasu.

In truth, the battle just now hadn't been as easy as it looked. Onizuka's Zanpakuto had indeed caused Haruto considerable trouble, since he relied on Kidō as his primary means of attack.

Haruto had used a full eight Hadō.

Using Twofold Incantation, Haruto had secretly prepared the twenty-sixth Bakudō, Kyokkō, while releasing Byakurai at the very beginning. By the time Kongōbaku struck Onizuka, he had also finished chanting the twenty-first Bakudō, Sekienton.

The combination of those two Bakudō was the Kidō version of Utsusemi that Haruto had used in his match with Byakuya. Thanks to his improved physical abilities, Haruto could use the two Kidō more quickly and flexibly, and the illusion he created was no longer as stiff as it had been at first.

As for the Haien that distracted Onizuka, he had even fused Hadō #26: Kōensaku into it very discreetly. Kōensaku was originally used to create walls of flame, but Haruto had used it to expand Haien's area of effect:

Against those four men on the ground, who could have been dealt with using Shakkahō, Haien could still kill them instantly even with its power spread out.

More importantly, Haien also served the most important deceptive role:

Onizuka's Zanpakuto had two abilities: one absorbed Kidō, and the other drew Kidō in.