Chapter 287: A three-way battle
(3rd's pov)
---(Akio's side)---
*SLASH*
With one clean slash from Akio's Zanpakuto, a head came clean off. Slowly, the head was sliding off into the ground as it lost connection to the body. A surprised Quincy didn't have any time to use Blut to defend against the attack, not that it would change much since Pepe wasn't proficient in that technique.
Akio looked at two of his remaining enemies to judge their reaction. He was hopeful that they would at least partially lose their cool. In that case, it would be easier to predict them, but this hope was quickly crushed as he noticed no reaction from them.
Even with suppressed emotions, Akio felt slightly annoyed, and he suppressed clicking his tongue. It made things more difficult, although 3 vs 1 turned into 2 vs 1, so at least he raised his chances.
"Pepe always was a fool... hiding behind his Schrift... abusing a gift from his Majesty and never improving. Nevertheless, he was of use to His Majesty, and for that... I need... to kill you."
The creepy voice slowly turned into more chilling and finally, into outright terrifying. It didn't intimidate Akio, but it was mostly thanks to the drug of his making.
The other Quincy was glancing at his 'ally' as he was losing his cool and tried to formulate a plan as now he needed to include a Sternritter running wild alongside himself. He would need to adapt to him if he wanted any kind of teamwork, and from the last interaction, it seemed that they would need to because Akio didn't even use Shikai, yet he killed a Sternritter. A weak Sternritter but a Sternritter nonetheless. The most frustrating part of all of this is that Akio wasn't that strong. He was just a very hard counter to 2 of his 3 opponents and was able to predict their movements to a scary degree, but his body couldn't keep up that kind of high-level fight for a long time, the number of bruises and cuts that he had were a sign of that.
"You won't be able to win this fight, Shinigami."
That was undoubtedly the truth. As it was now, Akio didn't stand a chance, but he had an ace up his sleeves.
"Spread, Doku to chiryo." Akio released his Shikai, and his sword changed its shape. Gone was a standard katana, and in its place was a large great sword with three holes in it, and the blade ended in a half circle. A strange shape for a sword.
"I don't like using it, you know. It's too big for my liking, and it tires me out too much to be useful in longer battles. Not to mention, its main ability is not as effective as I would have liked against stronger opponents such as you two."
"So why use it, and more importantly, why explain it?" Cang Du asked with his eyes narrowed.
At that, Akio grinned.
"To waste your time."
The moment Akio said that, Cang and ?s N?dt felt dizzy.
"You see, my Zanpakuto allows me to release gas from its holes. I can modify this gas's properties. All the way from cold medicine, to the deadliest of poisons. The downside to it is that I need to manually know the components of the gas to use it, and the quantity of it depends on my Reiatsu, so I can't pump you up with poison and kill you as your own Reiatsu would somehow protect you from my ability. I theoretically could brute force through this protection, but it would leave me defenseless, and there is no guarantee that it would even work, so at most, I can be a nuisance to you, and since I'm weak, I'll need all the advantages I can get."
Akio bought even more time with his explanation, but he wasn't stupid enough to tell them everything. Everything he said was true, but the information he shared wouldn't help them too much unless they planned to fight without breathing, which was too ridiculous to even think about it. Besides, the best-concealed lies are hidden within the truth.
What the Quincies didn't know was that Doku to Chiryo could do the same by cutting its target, and the potency of its ability would increase tremendously. He was hoping that he could get a cut or two, but he wouldn't use offense too much. He didn't need to win after all, but still, he hoped that his siblings had an easier fight than he had.
---(Yukima and Rangiku's side)---
Multiple blue lightning flew through the air at unimaginable speed but not even one hit their target. Yukima was too fast, and her instinct was even better. Out of all her siblings, she was the most battle-oriented. She liked to fight and was good at it. However, unlike her older brother, Masaru, she was more precise with her power, despite her more wild nature.
"You boasted so much but can't even land one attack on me! I would just bury my head in embarrassment if I were you!" Yukima taunted, and it worked.
"Haaaaa!? You think you are hot stuff because you dodge like a coward!? Stop moving then we can start talking! In fact, I hope that you won't ever open your mouth again after I'm done with you!"
More lighting was thrown at Yukima, which was dodged just as easily as before.
Yukima wasn't nervous at all. She believed that she could last the whole 5 minutes if things went on like that. The rest of the Quincies didn't seem to want to join the fight, and Rangiku wasn't fighting either, so that was good. She also wasn't naive enough to believe that it would stay like that, and that's why she was aware of her surroundings, just like her parents taught her.
'Never tunnel vision on your fight' was one of the first lessons she learned with Dad.
All in all, she hoped that her siblings had as easy of a time as she had.
---(Masaru's side)---
The surprise attack, surprisingly, did work. They usually don't, but somehow Masaru was able to dispose of the ape-looking one with his attack.
"What an idiot. I won't say that I'll miss him, but His Majesty will be disappointed." Bambietta commented without a hint of sadness in her voice. It only showed how little they cared about their own comrades. "...but we should take care of the intruder first before we report to His Majesty."
With that said, she created projectiles and sent them towards Masaru. Before they reached him, they hit a wall of black flames and exploded without harming him.
Bambietta and Bazz-B narrowed their eyes.
"So, Shinigami thinks he's hot stuff? Let's see how he deals with Burning Finger 2!"
With a swing of his arm, heat gathered in the two of his fingers and shot towards young Yuuki as Bazz-B let a feral smile creep on his face.
Expecting his attack to pierce through his enemy's fire, he was left utterly flabbergasted when it was his flames that got surrounded and slowly 'eaten' until there was only black left.
There was silence. What just happened was insane. An attack overpowering another attack was a regular occurrence, but that wasn't what occurred. Masaru's flames devoured Bazz-B's fire. Such was the nature of his Zanpakuto, but there was a minuscule detail that the two Quincies missed. Masaru was starting to sweat and breathe a bit roughly.
The way he used Tsukihi wasn't the way he would normally, That was required if he wanted to keep 2 opponents in check at the same time. Not to mention that his Zanpakuto was very Reiatsu dependent. The more he devoured, the more Reiatsu was needed, which may seem strange, but the energy is stored somewhere and is waiting to be used whenever Masaru releases his Bankai. In short, Shikai gathers the fuel, and Bankai burns through it.
Masaru couldn't allow himself to get lazy and block all attacks with his fire. He just wouldn't last. He is not Captain Commander who can fire left and right until his enemies melt. Yamamoto is a monster among monsters with a monstrous amount of Reiatsu as well, which Masaru didn't possess. Not to say that he was sloppy, but in comparison to Yamamoto, most would look weak.
---
And so the fights on three fronts went on until...
"Bankai!"
—
END
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