EPIC: Path of Demons and Dragons-Chapter 251: Contact

Witnessing light bend around Yamato's oversized kanabo and sensing its incredible power, Renji, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Hinamori, and Kira didn't even try to block it and instead used Shunpo to take swift, evasive action. The building they had been standing on wasn't as lucky.

BOOM

Though she briefly crashed through the building's roof, disappearing, Yamato quickly came back into view as the shockwave produced by her kanabo striking the ground sent pieces of the building scattering in every direction as shrapnel, accompanied by blinding light and snaking bands of crimson-hued black electricity that seemed to linger for several seconds. When it finally faded, Yamato could be seen shouldering her kanabo with a broad smile and a faint, hemispherical zone of static encompassing the area around her, heavy with the smell of ozone.

"I guess that answers the question about whether they're powerful..." remarked Renji, sporting a broad, toothy grin but with a bead of sweat adorning the right side of his face as he raised his visor to get a look at Yamato directly. She thankfully didn't appear to possess any movement techniques, but her momentum and raw power were absurd.

"We should fight her together," asserted Hinamori, her wearied expression resolute as she drew her Zanpakuto and gripped it with both hands, ready to engage Yamato with her colleagues.

"Everyone else, stay out of this...!" bellowed Ikkaku, his wild, raspy voice tinted with glee as he leaped through the air with his Zanpakuto already in its released state, transforming it from a katana to a long spear with a wax wood haft, a crimson horsehair tassel, and a head resembling the wedged blade of a horse-slaying zanbato.

"Aha! A courageous one has appeared! Tell me, bald warrior, what is your name...!?" cried Yamato, beaming as she swung her kanabo with a single hand to greet Ikkaku as he rapidly spun his Zanpakuto, Hozukimaru, like a helicopter's blade, responding, "Madarame Ikkaku...!" before cutting down to meet her with a two-handed, overhead strike.

KA—KROW

Despite the notable disparity in their sizes, with Ikkaku looking like a child compared to Yamato, their intersecting strike briefly achieved equilibrium with the bald, grinning Shinigami becoming suspended in air and a nearly indistinguishable mixture of Reiatsu and Haki ripped through the area as a shockwave and destructive tendrils of lightning. Unfortunately for Ikkaku, he put his full force and weight into the clash, while Yamato, mirroring his fervor, only used one hand and arm.

"Your strength is outstanding, Ikkaku-dono...!" exclaimed Yamato, the muscles in her right arm visibly swelling from her shoulder down as she added, "But so is mine...!" before redirecting Ikkaku's attack and sending him flying sideways—crashing through a stone wall—without the need for a second swing...

...

..

.

"Such monstrous strength..." muttered Yumichika, observing Ikkaku's fight with a mixture of envy and concern for his friend. As a member of the 11th Division, the thought of battling Yamato himself stirred his battle lust, but he knew that if he joined the fight before Ikkaku could no longer continue, his long-time friend would never forgive him.

Interrupting Yumichika's observance, a soft but masculine voice called out to him, forcing him to Shunpo away to create distance as it smoothly stated, "Pardon me, Ayasegawa-fukutaichō. But I'm afraid I must interrupt your perusal of Lady Yamato's battle with your colleague."

Seeing who had spoken to him, a notably handsome man with delicate but heroic features that included clear blue eyes, a confident smile, and short, soft blonde hair, Yumichika's expression immediately darkened. It didn't help at all that the man, exuding poise and refinement, offered him a courteous, hand-over-heart bow, adding, "I am Kiba Yuuto, a Knight in the service of Rias Gremory, a personal friend of the Intertwining Dragon God, and a Second-Grade Chef in service to the Dragon's Pavilion. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Tsk...a warrior and a gourmet? I hate to admit it, but you're nearly as beautiful and refined as I..." growled Yumichika, holding his lavender-hilted Zanpakuto sideways across his body, his left hand gliding above the blade as he shouted, "But you will pay dearly for preventing me from observing Ikkaku-san's battle! Bloom, Fuji Kujaku...!"

In response to Yumichika's cry, the blade of his Zanpakuto transformed from a long and elegant katana to a medium-length, four-bladed shotel with a sickle aesthetic.

"An interesting weapon," remarked Kiba, spreading his hands slightly near his waist, producing a pair of ivory white and ebon-black longswords with a crossguard resembling the wings of an Angel and Fallen as he mused, "I will need to be careful your blade doesn't slip around my defenses..."

"Tsk..."

After clicking his tongue a second time, Yumichika used Shunpo to try and slip into Kiba's blind spot. When he reached his destination, however, Kiba had vanished, causing Yumichika's purple eyes to widen as he was forced to defend himself from a slash aimed at his left flank.

Maintaining a relaxed smile, Kiba, after sending Yumichika skidding nearly ten meters, remarked, "The issue with foothold techniques like Shunpo is they don't enhance the user's perception—or else you could simply attack while moving at imperceptible speeds. It's an impressive technique, to be sure, but I prefer more practical means..."

fwip fwip fwip fwip

Following his words, Kiba appeared to split into four static versions of himself, accompanied by tempestuous wind permeating the area as he briefly accelerated to hypersonic speeds—resulting in Yumichika's right arm and Zanpakuto spinning through the air and the flamboyant-looking Shinigami sent reeling. Meanwhile, Kiba sported a relaxed smile tinged with relief as he wasn't certain before the Rating Game if his raw speed could contend with Bleach's advanced movement techniques. Yumichika wasn't particularly known for his speed, but the brief encounter gave him a serviceable baseline for comparison...

"Kuh...you'll pay for that..." groaned Yumichika, forcing himself to one knee and demonstrating his grit as a member of the 11th Division by utilizing an unnamed kido to cauterize his wound—stopping the bleeding.

"You wish to continue, Ayasegawa-fukutaichō...?" asked Kiba, tilting his head slightly as, while it was certainly possible for Yumichika to continue fighting with one arm, it wasn't the wisest course if he wanted to preserve the prestige and image of the Gotei.

"Unfortunately...defeat in the 11th...means death..." stated Yumichika, his brow beaded with sweat and his expression fixed in a pained grimace. In spite of this, he forced himself to stand, hunching forward slightly as if he were prepared to battle Kiba with one hand and no weapon.

"I respect your resolve," affirmed Kiba, surprising Yumichika immensely as he tossed one of his longswords over, the tip piercing the ground before the injured Shinigami as he stated, "And as a Knight entrusted to uphold the honor and prestige of my Mistress, chivalry dictates that I face you on equal footing..."

Leaving Yumichika at a loss for words, Kiba unhesitantly severed his own right arm, allowing it to fall to the ground before sealing the wound with a crimson-hued Magic Circle.

"Stand ready, Ayasegawa-fukutaichō..." stated Kiba, striking a sidelong pose and pointing his remaining sword at the stunned Shinigami, freeing him from his awed stupor—replacing his stupefaction with a determined frown.

"I would prefer to use my weapon..." stated Yumichika, his molars nearly cracking as Kiba responded with a curt, affirming nod before smiling and responding, "By all means," in a polite, almost friendly tone. Had he been less considerate, Yumichika could have accepted his forthcoming defeat with grace. But with Kiba exuding grace and poise from every fiber of his being, he couldn't help but detest and envy the handsome, blonde-haired Knight from the bottom of his heart...

...

..

.

"This is absurd...what kind of power is this...?" groaned Renji, forced to one knee with his six-segmented, fanged cleaver sinking progressively deeper into the ground—which cratered around him, producing radial, web-like cracks. To make matters worse, Hinamori and Kira were right alongside him, the former forced prone and the latter gritting his teeth with a vexed grimace.

"This is my Sacred Gear, Gravity Jail," stated a tall, handsome man with sharp yet gentle blue eyes and long, shoulder-length blonde hair, his fit and muscular body adorned in a blue tunic, dark pants, and bronze, gold-trimmed plate armor that protected his shoulders, chest, back, forearms, and hips, the left of which was adorned with a longsword.

Continuing, the man, Liban Crocell, one of Sairaorg's Knights, explained, "Anything within my line of sight has its personal gravity increased to the threshold of their endurance. It cannot kill independently, but it is one of the best Sacred Gears at restricting an opponent's mobility."

'Though, as I say that...the resilience of these three is outstanding...' thought Liban, a bead of sweat forming on the left side of his face as he strained to keep Renji, in particular, from moving. The restriction effect of his Sacred Gear would break if he deviated his focus even a little, so with three people in his line of sight, he couldn't attack or cast Magic without risking one of them breaking free.

Just as Liban was nearing his limit, bluish-white Magic Circles of varying sizes appeared above his and the three Shinigami's locations, each with a different function, such as acceleration, the conversion of Reishi to Magic Power, and the focusing of it into a single point. The impulse to look up at it was extreme, but Liban managed to restrain it through discipline, a calm smile adorning his face as he remarked, "It appears our time together has come to an end. I look forward to facing the countermeasures you devise to my Sacred Gear on future battlefields."

'What kind of attack is this...?' Renji asked himself, ignoring Liban's remark as he forcibly raised his head to the sky above. He had seen all manner of Kido in his more than five decades as a Shinigami, but their structure was determined internally and empowered via specialized chants given power through uniform and continued usage. This was the first time he had seen a spell's structure externalized, and he couldn't even begin to fathom the degree of comprehension and spatial attunement needed to perform such a feat...

FWOOM

Accompanied by a blinding flash of light and what he could best describe as the inverted, muffled sound of an explosion, Renji briefly experienced a sensation of liberation and weightlessness before he, Kira, and Hinamori suddenly found themselves seated next to each other in the same row of their side's spectator area. Before them was a large display showing what appeared to be a bluish-white sun, slowly expanding and casting the rest of the screen in shadow.

"Is that what hit us...?" asked Kira, swallowing hard as the sun in question appeared to encompass an area exceeding multiple district blocks in pure, bluish-white destruction. It was absurd to consider, but it reminded him of the video they had been shown of humans testing an absurdly destructive weapon known as an atomic bomb. They had quickly eliminated the group of scientists helming the project, but the weapon's destructive power was seared into the hearts and minds of all who beheld it—a stern reminder of humanity's capacity for destruction and war.

"Are the three of you okay...?" asked a soft, masculine, and concerned voice that caused the befuddled trio of Shinigami to nearly startle out of their Shihakushos before they turned to find Ukitake observing them with a smile. Had he been alone, they would have felt relief, but seated at the highest row of the spectating area was Yamamoto, poised with his hands folded atop his club-like staff and eyeing them with his characteristically stern and piercing crimson gaze.

Summoning her courage, large in part due to her familiarity with Ukitake, Hinamori swallowed hard before affirming, "There was a moment where I was sure I had died, but I currently don't feel any pain."

"Even the stress and fatigue you and Kira-kun have accumulated over these past few weeks appears to have been alleviated..." noted Ukitake, cupping his chin thoughtfully. Prompted by his words, Hinamori and Kira realized they felt refreshed, their weariness and eyebags nowhere to be seen. This was especially notable in the latter's case as, even before his Captain was detained and he was subjected to harsh interrogation, there were always faint bags under his eyes due to his recurring nightmares and lack of proper rest. For the first time in many years, he felt...light... freewёbnoνel.com

...

..

.