Clothing Oneself in Bowmen Is the Nature of Snakes

In a world where black and white had blurred into one, the blue halo Arima Shizuya saw was the unique ability spreading from his Zanpakuto.

He saw four versions of himself.

Like standing at a crossroads, unable to take a step forward...

Arima Shizuya began advancing into the unknown.

The first charged straight ahead, gripping his weapon with both hands as he tried to break through his opponent's attack head-on.

But Guiganjo cleaved him and his blade in two.

The second chose to circle around, but before he could launch an attack, Guiganjo grabbed him by the head and smashed him viciously into the ground.

The third...

The fourth...

Every attempt at a frontal breakthrough ended in failure. Arima Shizuya watched the blue silhouettes fade from dark to light until they vanished.

He immediately reached a conclusion.

If he could not break through head-on, then he could only adjust his strategy.

Snap.

It was as though he had snapped his fingers in his mind. The familiar crossroads appeared once more.

Simulation.

That was the ability of Arima Shizuya's Zanpakuto.

It gathered information about himself and his opponent, fixed those known details in place, and injected them into the Zanpakuto in the form of spiritual pressure, allowing it to thoroughly interpret and analyze them.

After that.

The maze known as "Guiganjo" would be completely reconstructed within Arima Shizuya's mind.

The crossroads represented four different directions.

Through conscious control, Arima Shizuya could clearly "foresee" the chain of consequences that would follow if he took a certain action.

Being hacked to death, having his head crushed, his body broken, his eyes gouged out...

There were countless such outcomes.

That was why he needed to constantly "reset."

If he could not break through head-on, then he could only circle around, retreat, or defend passively.

It might sound complicated, but it was not actually difficult to understand.

It could be seen as a game of life and death.

Every crossroads was an exploration in search of a chance to survive.

And if, like now, every path ended in defeat.

Arima Shizuya could abandon that round of attempts, adjust his thinking, and try again in a different way.

He had found the slim chance to evade Guiganjo twice before through this very method.

It was only natural for Guiganjo to feel unsettled.

After all, in terms of probability, this had originally been a one-in-several-thousand... no, perhaps even one-in-several-ten-thousand chance.

Using four as the basis, Arima Shizuya had run countless simulations in his mind.

So whether his movements were ugly or his methods were dirty.

As long as he could find a chance to escape alive, Arima Shizuya would not hesitate to take that path.

Like a rat scurrying through a maze.

Like walking upon an endless Mobius Ring.

Clothing oneself in bowmen was the nature of snakes.

That was right.

This was an Ouroboros, joined head to tail, devouring itself.

This was Arima Shizuya's true nature, and the embodiment of his talent—turning the Four Basic Skills into his soul.

Turning impossibility into chaos.

Then using his own strength to peel back the layers...

To find that single thread that could turn the impossible into possible.

In theory, this ability would inevitably find an "opportunity" to win.

After all, probability was never absolute. It was filled with chaotic unknowns, which also meant infinite possibilities...

It was like placing a computer before a monkey.

After countless, immeasurable attempts, the monkey might one day write the world-shaking masterpiece known as "Hamlet."

But reality was never that simple.

Because Arima Shizuya's spiritual pressure was limited.

And while the Zanpakuto was operating, all of Arima Shizuya's energy gathered in his brain.

Like an overclocked computer, this level of output left even Arima Shizuya's consciousness growing uncontrollably muddled.

Because there had been too many attempts.

Using four as the basis, Arima Shizuya had repeated the process hundreds of times in those brief seconds.

Resistance, defense, evasion, even begging for mercy...

Even with every possible method at his disposal, the answers Arima Shizuya could find were ultimately limited.

The pressure Guiganjo gave him was extraordinary. The "maze" constructed with his opponent as the basis...

After taking only two steps into it, Arima Shizuya already felt immense pressure.

Perhaps once his strength improved, Bow Clothing's ability could be further strengthened, allowing it to deduce a more accurate future.

But for the current Arima Shizuya, this was all he could do.

—How much farther did he need to go before he saw the end? How many more struggles would it take before he found an exit?

—There was no room to think about such things for now.

Because Arima Shizuya could see the blue glimmers spreading from his body shattering and disappearing like glass.

Countless futures had been rejected.

At the same time, the colors that had gradually begun to fill in slowly returned to normal before Arima Shizuya's eyes.

This is bad... Once his vision fully returned to normal, time would begin flowing again.

Before that.

Before Guiganjo could act, he had to find the so-called "path to survival."

Where was the next crossroads, the next turning point?!

His dwindling stamina, coupled with his opponent's increasingly ferocious offensive, sent Arima Shizuya's situation spiraling downward.

But it was not time to give up yet.

Arima Shizuya gritted his teeth and tensed his body until veins visibly bulged at his temples.

Pfft...

A faint sound echoed softly from deep within his mind.

What was that? Before he could investigate, Arima Shizuya felt warmth at his nostrils.

Something wet trickled down.

Looking down, he saw chilling blood streaming from his nose.

A physiological reaction from overworking his brain... This itself was a warning, the lingering cry of a body in distress.

Yet at the same time, Arima Shizuya had no choice but to maintain this state.

It was a deadly choice between success and death.

All he could do now was give it everything he had.

Taking a deep breath, he clenched the Zanpakuto in his hand.

Arima Shizuya unleashed every last bit of spiritual pressure in his body...

Countless Azure Blue torrents, so numerous that their forms could not even be distinguished, began surging madly.

Come on.

Would his opponent push his stamina and life to their limits, trapping Arima Shizuya completely with that serpentine body?

Or would he find a suitable opening first, discover the exit from this endless cycle, and break through? After the chaos, everything would become crystal clear.

PS: This blade's ability was designed so it could connect with the Bankai later on, so it has quite a few limitations. Please forgive that. (After all, this is only Shikai.)