Chapter Two

Al, with his sword drawn and raised above his head, announced in glorious pride, an incantation. He recited: "Save those I care for most, slay those that threaten my host. Hatoburedo!"

Upon saying this incantation, Al's Zanpakuto began to glow a deep shade of red, what appeared to be hundreds of small, red shards shot out of the end; each seemed to home into their own unique target. There was a shout from amongst the Shinigami, as each and every one crashed to the floor. Each one had a small red shard pierce their hearts. Even the giant had one.

Al then proceeded to sweep his zanpakuto, now back to its sealed form, in large arcs. The giant managed to lumber out of the way, but the shinigami did not. Every time Al swung, an arced wave of red energy shot through it and towards the shinigami. Every time one of these waves hit, each shinigami was hit by a blast of energy that shredded their skin and spilt their blood. As Al raised his blade for a sixth blast, he was parried by Daroth.

Daroth felt terrible for hesitating. After realising the young boy was unleashing his Shikai, he felt himself stop, as if inclined to simply watch. The Shikai didn't seem to do much; it left a small blade in his men's chests, and the giant; so there was some friendly fire. Anger flowed through Daroth as he parried and repelled Al's blade, how could he hesitate like that? As fast as he could muster, Daroth launched himself onto Al, swinging wild and fast, he even threw in a few kicks. When he was out of breath, Daroth threw himself backwards, keeping his distance from Al, and to check the damage.

There was none.

Daroth couldn't believe his eyes; this young boy parried every blow? How? If there was one thing Daroth is infamous for, it's his speed. He was infamous for one other reason, and he decided to resort to that instead, as Daroth doubted himself that he could harm this child without it. It was time for this boy to die.

Daroth raised his sword and slammed it into the ground, blade first, and knelt behind it. The blade sunk into the earth with ease, until only the hilt was above ground. Anger flowed through Daroth as he shouted: "You won't survive Shi!"

The hilt of the blade enclosed in itself, thinning until only a shaft remains, which has extended, forming a spear like shape. Additionally, the entire blade turned from white to black, with a thin shade of red. Daroth twisted his wrist and grasped Shi thumb down. He pulled.

The earth erupted around the Lieutenant as he lifted his Shikai from the depths of the earth. Covered by a thin veil of dust, forcing Al to squint as he tried to make out what kind of Shikai a second division lieutenant could possibly wield. He didn't have too, as the silhouette of a wickedly curved battle-axe rose from the ground, ready to strike.

Daroth lunged, his Shikai is a lot slower and dragging for his taste, buts its sheer power is more than useful in this scenario. The exact power of Shi is a mysterious in itself, but concidering the name 'Shi' literally means 'Death', It has quickly become a feared and awed weapon indeed.

"You got a lot slower, pretty boy" Al muttered, parrying each swing, "That battle-axe heavy enough for you?" Al blocked an over-the-shoulder swing from the lieutenant and responded with a kick to the stomach.

Daroth grunted at the sheer force of this child, he paused and found his resolve. He lunged again. "That's more like it!" The boy cried in amusement, as if he is proud to be fighting a worthy opponent. Daroth swung in very specific patterns, he wants the child's blade to touch the earth, and then he could pin him down.

Al couldn't believe how obvious the lieutenant was making his attacks, he parried each side slash with ease, and as soon as the battle-axe wielder swung from below, he blocked by swinging down, pushing Shi into the earth.

This was it; Daroth twisted Shi to the right and moved it so that Al's blade slid down the shaft, with both movements employed at the same time and with such force, he ripped the blade right out of the boy's hands!

Al twisted his hands away from the oncoming axe; a light patter told him that his Zanpakuto landed a few feet behind the lieutenant, whom raised his blade, Shi, above his head, ready for the killing blow. Al raised his hand, "You kill me, your men will die!" he cried
"How?" Daroth asked, pausing his attack mid swing.
"Those red shards in your men's chests are keeping them alive. Without it, well…" The boy smiled, and pointed to the nearest Shinigami.
Daroth turned his head slightly and, from the corner of his eye, saw that the small red blades dislodged itself from the poor man's chest. The wounded Shinigami let out an exalted sigh of pain and surprise as his blood began to flow out of his wounds much faster than when that… thing was in, he died within seconds.

"You move," he said again, "I kill them. Got it?" he turned to his leader "I got him under control, may we begin?"

Achilles nodded and gestured to Takuma, the two remaining Ryoka got to work, entering nearby homes and dragging out screaming locals. They selected them seemingly at random, but it didn't take Daroth long until he realised they were targeting people with high spiritual pressure, high enough that they could become potential Shinigami. Each person was bound by a simple kido that locked their arms behind their backs.
One had the nerve to try to escape, to which the slimy ryoka cut him down mercilessly, and he enjoyed it too.

After about an hour of this, the entire district was swept of chosen civilians.

"Only twenty?" spat Takuma, as he threw the final one, a hungry little girl that looked to be about 12, into the pile.
"Twenty one of you didn't kill that kid" Achilles growled, "Let's take the Shinigami too."
The toad lifted the strongest of the wounded Shinigami and added them to the body pile. He also killed two when Achilles back was turned.

Daroth could only watch as ten of his best men were dragged with twenty innocents, into a strange and unique white portal of which he had never seen before. If he moved, they all die. When the last of them disappeared into its white jaws, Al saluted Daroth and leapt through it too.

It closed, and the shards disappeared. Daroth fell to his knees in anger and sorrow, he had failed. He was pathetic, what could he do now? He watched all his remaining men bleed to death, now that there was no Hatoburedo to keep them alive.

He was a fool and fell for such a stupid and obvious trick.

Author's Notes

I'm not really happy with Daroth's Zanpakuto, this chapter makes it out that Shi will kill whatever it strikes, in exchange for speed. This is no longer the case (although it was at this chapters writing, and I've decided not to modify the early chapters when I decided to resume the project, after all It's a fan fiction I am not winning no fan base here.)
The blade instead will drain the lifeforce of those it cuts, effectively; it damages your soul making it easier to get killed by it, but not instant-death

As for Al's Zanpakuto, Hatoburedo, It was an idea I had while writing the previous chapter, a purely support oriented Zanpakuto, that acts as a life support system to anyone the user (Al) chooses, making killing them harder. Hatoburedo is effectively the hard counter to Shi

Finally, I used GOOGLE TRANSLATE to create my Zanpakuto names, so what they are meant to translate into is probably nothing to what they actually mean. But bear with me here.

Hatoburedo means Heart Blade
Shi means Death

Thanks, A. P. Schep.