Chapter 9
"They're using a Kidō cannon", Midorikawa explained to Kaito and Emi. They'd started searching for their friends the moment they had entered the main academy building. Not that it was hard to miss a small girl constantly jumping around above the crowd that had now gathered in the central plaza.
"What's that?", Kaito asked, not knowing what his friend meant.
"It's a device specially created to fire massive blasts of kidō energy. Much like a normal person can fire a kidō spell, the kidō cannon can be charged up by several people, allowing shots of devastating power to be unleashed. The thing that's bothering me though, is that I thought that the Gotei 13 were the only ones that have one. But they can't be the ones attacking us, there are several taichō here with a considerable detachment of their highest ranking officers".
"We know, we ran into the eleventh division taichō out there", Emi nodded in acknowledgement.
"Well, from what I heard, there's a grand total of six fukutaichō and five taichō present here at the school", a voice suddenly came from behind Kaito. As the group turned as one, the owner of the voice stepped out of a shadowy niche in the wall.
"Sakamoto", Midorikawa said, surprise audible in his voice, "how do you know that?"
"I overheard some seated officers of the sixth talking. Apparently there's Fukuda Naoki, the eleventh division taichō, as Kaito and Emi said. Then there's Yoshikune Shinji, Handa Tetsuo, Fukuzawa Yushio and Kago Asuka present, the fifth, sixth, twelfth and fourth division taichō respectively. Each with their fukutaichō and some of their seated officers. The last fukutaichō is Hasegawa Kazuma's subordinate, just in case you don't know Kaito, he's the sōtaichō. He's here to oversee the operation and to report back".
"In any case", Midorikawa continued, "we still need to deal with that kidō cannon. They've used it once before, on the dorms, so I think they want to cause as much damage and casualties as possible with it. My guess is that they'll fire at this building next".
"My deduction exactly", Sakamoto nodded, "the problem is, no one present here can deflect that blast when it's coming, and to know where it's located, we'll need it to fire again".
"But what about the taichō?", Emi wondered.
"No go, they're still holding the perimeter. If they were to leave their posts, the attackers would have no problem overrunning this position. We may be accompanied by a sizeable complement of high ranking officers, but if we're faced with a decently organised army, which I suspect, then they'll use superior numbers to overtake them".
"So that means we'll be the ones to take out that cannon", Kaito sighed.
"Looks that way yes", Sakamoto said, staring at the floor. He obviously wasn't too keen on going out there, possibly to get himself killed. But neither were Kaito, Emi, Miharu or Midorikawa.
"Wether we go or not, just the five of us isn't going to be enough. We still need some more support", Kaito said, looking around in the room. The look on his face changed drastically as he saw someone sitting in a corner, staring directly at him. It was Akimoto Momiji.
"You called?", he grinned, "both myself and Saruwatari will join you if you decide to go out there".
"Thanks, it's appreciated", Kaito nodded at what some called his biggest rival, not that Kaito thought of him that way though. He knew that his abilities were now far larger than those of Akimoto. Akimoto probably knew as well, since he hadn't been challenging Kaito anymore in a long time.
"But there's still the problem of the enemy troops being capable of overpowering us", Kaito continued, "Naoki taichō himself told me that this time, both Emi, Miharu, Midorikawa and myself are targets since we helped in preventing a lot of casualties during the excursion. We made ourselves a reputation, and apparently, it has reached the ears of our enemies".
"So, you're planning to go out anyway, even in spite of Naoki taichō's warning", a voice called out from a nearby roof. Jumping down from it, the figure fell and landed in the middle of the group in a blur of white and black.
"Handa-taichō", Sakamoto replied respectfully.
"So you said they're using a kidō cannon eh? That complicates things", Tetsuo said as he rubbed his chin in irritation. He was about to say something again when the sky west of the academy lit up, immediately followed by another blast from the cannon.
"Incoming!", one of the shinigami helping the injured students yelled as he threw himself over some of the injured trainees.
"Bakudō no 81, Danku".
A barrier in the form of a wall suddenly sprang up in front of the blast, causing it to burst into fragments and shower down on what remained of the academy.
Kaito and his group looked at Tetsuo, their mouths hanging open in amazement. They'd just seen a man perform an eighties forbidden bakudō, chantless incantation, as if it were nothing, Midorikawa currently couldn't even manage chantless incantations of anything over fifty.
"I got their position sir", a blonde haired fukutaichō suddenly came down from the roof as well, "they're located to the west of the academy, about a mile away from the wall, or what's left of it".
Having seen the shield erected by Tetsuo, Shinji sighed in relief. He now knew that the people in the main building were safe. Using his scythe, he quickly cut through some opposition as he continued making his way back to where his friend was. Shinji raised his hand and cast a special kidō spell that had been developed for quick battlefield communication. It caused a bright flare to rocket up into the sky, which would remain there for a while, bathing the environment in a bright green light, the flare itself could be seen for miles. Having fired the signal to his fellow taichō that were still holding the perimeter, Shinji retreated to the main building so that they could bolster their defences. As he made his way back, he encountered several opponents that had managed to sneak past him or another taichō amidst the confusion. With utmost precision, he erased any trace of them. Noticing movement in a forest out of the corner of his eye, Shinji shifted his path to the right, only to see an entranced Naoki burst out of the underbrush, taking several trees with him. The man was obviously amusing himself. Several of the insurgents had been impaled on his zanpakutō. His eyes were aflame with bloodlust as he brought his sword down in a vicious arc, swinging the corpses off his sword.
"They're already dead Naoki-san", Shinji said calmly to his fellow taichō, but to no avail. After having launched the bodies off his sword, Naoki had vanished, only to reappear directly in the path of the corpses that were flying through the air. Shouting a battle cry, he planted his fist into the corpses, the impact combined with the damage done earlier causing them to disintegrate. Shinji took shelter behind a nearby tree as the remaining pieces of the attackers rained down upon Naoki, causing his bloodlust to dissipate.
"I trust you had some fun here Naoki-san?", Shinji asked the taichō as he stepped from behind the tree.
"Cheh, these weaklings are useless, it's like squashing bugs", the leader of the eleventh division cursed as he knocked one of the bigger pieces of flesh off his shoulder, annoyed by the blood seeping into his clothes. It'd take a while to get his haori back to its original colour.
"Haven't you ever heard of holding back every once in a while Naoki-san?", Shinji sighed.
"That's a word that's not in my vocabulary my friend, you of all people ought to know that".
"We better get back to the main building", Shinji continued as he watched one of the most feared men of the Gotei 13 scowl as he took a look at his now almost ruined coat, "they'll be needing our help".
"Agreed, at the very least they'll send some strong guys to attack us, or at least that's what I'm hoping for".
After Naoki had put on his coat again, they made their way back, systematically eradicating any resistance they encountered.
"Sir, they're pulling back towards the main building", the man clad in the same outfit as those that had attacked the academy said to his superior.
"Excellent, move all our teams forward and have the third cannon crew stand by".
"Sir, with all due respect, our previous shot was blocked as if it was nothing, shouldn't we wait until the one responsible for that spell has been taken out?"
"There are only a few people that can cast that specific spell, and all of them are taichō class or nearing that level. Besides, if we let up now, they might recover. It's not spell you can perform for hours on end, yet we, with our cannon and our four teams can. As long as we time the shots well, giving our different teams enough time to rest and recuperate, we can continue to fire indefinitely. Now move teams six to fourteen to the south of the academy and order them to attack in full force".
"But sir, those are the teams that are guarding the cannon, without them it's vulnerable to attack".
"Shut up you idiot, I'm fully aware of that, which is exactly why I'm ordering those squads to attack them from the south. The best way to protect something from your enemy, is to shift his focus to something else, in this case, his own defence. With those squads tying up the taichō present in the main building, they won't have anyone to send here to take out the cannon".
"But sir, what about those students that are supposedly incredibly strong? What if they're sent out?"
"Then they'll still have to deal with my personal guard, and I seriously doubt that a handful of mere shinigami trainees could take them on, even if they're renowned for their strength".
Noticing the shadows in the treetops nearby the command post, the soldier swallowed hard, he'd heard enough stories about his commander's elite guard. The stories made shivers run down his spine, most of those men were at the same level as a high ranking seated officer, with their leader supposedly having taken out a fukutaichō before he became a part of the elite guard. They were renowned to be both powerful and merciless. He pitied the poor souls that would encounter those guys in direct combat.
"So, you're heading out into battle again Kaito-kun?", Shinji frowned as he encountered the group of students at the main building.
"We don't have any other choice Shinji-san", Kaito replied. He knew the taichō had realised the severity of the situation as well and that there was no other choice.
"So you're going out there eh?", Naoki suddenly cut in, "great, I'll go with you, gives me a chance to cut up some more people on the way". The hot headed and bloodthirsty taichō was about to take a head start when he was suddenly clobbered into the pavement by a red headed beauty wearing a white haori as well, the sign twelve adorning the back of the coat.
"Oh no you are, you're going to stay right here and help defend this building Naoki", Yushio said to her husband.
Naoki wanted to retort, but was cut short by a short glare from his wife. He knew better than to argue with her. The two swords that were strapped on her back only adding to this fact. Nevertheless, he loved her most when she was fighting. The sharp contrast between her waist long hair, bound in a long, flowing ponytail, the shimmer of her twin blades and the gray cloth that held the sheaths of her swords on her back never ceased to entrance him. Which was also one of the reasons why he always lost to her in a fight. The other reason being that she was an excellent fighter and one of the most skilled and experienced taichō of the Gotei 13.
"You are going to stay here and help us defend this building Naoki", Yushio told her husband, grabbing his arm as she dragged him off.
"Tetsuo-kun is busy with fending off any more of those kidō attacks, and Kago-san is busy tending to the wounded, which leaves only four of us to defend the perimeter, now get your ass to your sector".
Not willing to risk another beating, Naoki quickly stopped resisting as he was dragged off to the south side of the academy, leaving his fellow taichō and the students behind. Meanwhile, Kaito and the rest couldn't believe what they had just seen. Here was one of the most feared men in Soul Society, being bossed by his wife as if he was a cute little puppy.
"Don't you dare get any ideas Emi", Kaito growled under his breath as he saw the look on Emi's face, "you are not going to do that with me".
"What? I was just wondering if I need to get my nails done the next time I'm home", Emi responded sarcastically.
"Right, and I'm Santa", Kaito retorted, not willing to let his girlfriend get away with her reply that easily.
"Who's Santa?"
"Forget it". He'd forgotten Emi didn't know anything about Santa, he should've picked something from the Gotei 13.
"If you two newlyweds are done, can we perhaps get on with this mission?", Shinji sighed as he witnessed the young couple bicker a bit.
Hearing the taichō's comment, they stopped immediately, blushing a bit as they saw the grins on their friends faces.
"Well, knowing Yuuji-san, that might not be too far off when he learns of your relationship", Shinji continued, causing the blush on Kaito's and Emi's face to turn a few shades darker as he rubbed it in a bit more.
"In any case, that won't happen if we just continue to stand around here like fools", Shinji suddenly shifted to a much more serious tone, "your main objective is to take out the kidō cannon and to return alive, don't take any unnecessary risks and keep engagements to a minimum, now move out".
"Yes sir", the seven trainees saluted before they blasted off towards the location of the cannon, using shunpō to cover as much ground as possible in a single leap.
Kaito, in the lead of the group, pushed his team members as hard as he could without making them fall behind, which was not an easy task, given his already incredible speed.
"I hope you manage to uphold your vow", he suddenly heard his zanpakutō speak in his mind.
"I will", Kaito replied in his mind. He was not about to let his friends down, not now, not ever.
"Looks like they were stupid enough to send out those students after all", the leader of the enemy commander's elite guard sneered as he witnessed them cross the now devastated academy grounds.
"They do have some speed and power, but only compared to a normal student. Compared to us, they're nothing", the leader heard one of his subordinates laugh.
"Keep it down you idiot, they still haven't detected us and I intend to keep it that way".
"My apologies Kawazoe-sama", the soldier quickly bowed. He knew better than to anger his commander.
Kawazoe Jun looked out over the academy grounds towards the oncoming students. It was a pity that he had to fight such promising shinigami. Even more so because he had to kill them in the process. No one had fought him, and lived to tell the tale. Something he intended to keep that way.
"There's one for each of us, pick your targets and engage", Jun ordered his men, "but don't touch the one that's in the lead, he's mine.
Nodding in acknowledgement, his men vanished from the treetops they had been hiding in.
"Someone's coming", Miharu said as she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.
"What do you mean?", Akimoto asked as he looked at the small girl, wondering how she knew that there was someone approaching them.
"She's right", Kaito said. He'd suddenly felt the pressure as well. Whoever they were, they were hiding their reiatsu, and were pretty good at it too, making it impossible to measure their strength without confronting them, something that Kaito wasn't too eager to do.
"So two of them noticed us, not bad", Jun spoke to himself as he saw the sudden change in their behaviour, "well then, looks like it's time to introduce ourselves". Grinning, he jumped towards his prey.
Sakamoto was the first one to spot their enemies as they launched themselves into the air. Their uniforms clearly visible in the combined light of the moon and the now fading flare, he was puzzled as to the appearance of the enemy soldiers. They wore a black leather armour with several red bands strapped in an artistic manner over any possible gaps, giving them a strangely surrealistic appearance. On their uniforms, there was a small circular patch of white cloth, adorned with a strange broken V-shaped dagger inscribed with runes. This intrigued Sakamoto, for he had never seen such a logo, as a matter of fact, he had never encountered anything about a V-shaped dagger decorated with runes in any of the books he had read during his hour long plundering sessions of the academy library. He took a mental note of giving Yoshikune taichō a detailed description of what he'd seen, that is, if he made it out alive.
With a deafening roar, Jun landed on the ground in front of the students, cracking the pavement and throwing up a large cloud of dust in the process. He always found it amusing to see the surprised reactions of weaker opponents. He was disappointed when he found that instead of jumping back, the trainees just moved into a combat stance.
"Awww, these guys are no fun", he thought to himself.
"I suppose you're the strongest one of this group", Jun said as he pointed at Kaito.
"That depends", Kaito answered calmly as he observed his opponent. The man was muscular and clearly a seasoned fighter. A few scars lines his bare upper arms and continued upwards to his shoulders, where they were hidden by the same armour his comrades were wearing. The man's face was drawn into a focussed stare, leering at Kaito as if he was some sort of prized prey. The silver eyes almost nailing him to the spot with their intense gaze. His short silver hair quivered in a small breeze as he slowly moved his gaze over the rest of the group of students, the rest of his body remaining perfectly still. Kaito had sensed the man's monstrous reiatsu the moment he'd impacted the ground. He was not someone to be trifled with.
"From the way you appeared before us, I'd say it's a safe bet to say that you're here to fight us. Now the question remains, what kind of fight are you looking for?"
"Just a simple one on one fight with the strongest swordfighter amongst you".
"Then I am indeed the one you seek".
"Excellent, I only hope your comrades will entertain my subordinates as well", Jun said as the rest of his squad landed in a circle around Kaito and his friends.
"That depends on how strong your teammates are", Kaito replied, purposefully keeping his voice steady. He knew the man would take advantage of even the slightest hint of fear. "But let's move away a bit, I'd hate you accidentally injuring any of your teammates with your death throes".
"Got a little spunk here eh? Fine, lead the way, but not too far please". Jun grinned, this guy was really keeping his cool. Perhaps finally he could have a decent bout against a powerful opponent.
Careful not to alert his opponent, Kaito signalled Emi and the rest of his friends not to intervene, he didn't want her to get hurt. Compared to his opponent, theirs were quite a bit weaker and shouldn't be a problem for any of them.
"Let's go", Kaito yelled as he used shunpō to put a bit of distance between him and his friends, only to notice the strange soldier vanish and appear at the location he'd planned on reaching.
"You're a bit slow mister, perhaps you shouldn't be so confident about your own abilities", Jun grinned as Kaito arrived.
"Oh really? I was only holding back to make sure you could keep up with me".
"Well, I have to admit, you've got both spunk and your way with words a bit, now let's see if you can handle yourself in a fight as well".
Drawing his blade, Jun prepared himself to charge straight at Kaito when he noticed that Kaito was no longer standing in front of him, but was sailing down from the sky, his sword raised in an attempt to cleave Jun clean in two.
"How the hell?", Jun cursed as he leapt to the side, dodging the blade as it came crashing down onto the bare earth, creating a deep gash in it in the process.
"Looks like you weren't joking about your speed kid, now let's see how long you can keep that up".
Jun moved his sword to his side, preparing for a sideways swipe at Kaito, who in turn was forced to dodge, though by a wide margin. Sensing an opening, Kaito returned the favour immediately and attacked himself, using full the momentary opening in Jun's defence to his full advantage. Cursing again, Jun ducked under the swing and immediately jumped back again to put some distance between him and Kaito.
"Just who is this guy?", Jun asked himself as his feet made skidded over the pavement.
"Hmmm, didn't quite get you there", Kaito sighed, trying to sound as bored as possible as he removed some clothing from his sword.
Cursing, Jun reached for his back, only to find his armour in tatters, Kaito's sword had cleaved right through it.
"All right kid, you asked for it. Slash, Mouko!"
A huge wave of power burst forward the moment Jun released his zanpakutō, forcing Kaito to shield himself with his arm.
"Do you honestly think that you can win from me kid? You're a shinigami trainee, I'm a veteran ex-shinigami. My power can be compared to a fukutaichō of the Gotei 13. There's no way you can win".
Kaito knew the man wasn't bluffing. He felt the spiritual pressure radiating off the man. And his released zanpakutō only made that even more clear. The sword had changed into a set of three long claws attached to his wrist, resembling a tiger's claws. The fact that the three blades were now aflame with a white and orange reiatsu only served to make that more obvious.
"I'll tell you my name as a final courtesy kid, if you're prepared to die in battle, you should at least want to know the name of the one that killed you. My name is Kawazoe Jun. It was fun, but sadly enough, I have to end it right here".
Kaito watched the man vanish. Reacting purely on instinct, he leapt forward to dodge an attack he knew was coming. He wasn't quick enough though, for soon he felt three separate claws rip through his clothes and skin, causing blood to immediately soak his back as it streamed from the wounds.
"Nice reflex kid, I'll give you that, but this is the end for you", Jun said as he raised his claw in front of him.
Elsewhere, Emi and the rest didn't have too much trouble in finishing off Jun's subordinates. Midorikawa being the only one to suffer an injury, annoying him to no end, which in turn, caused him to unleash a high level spell onto his unfortunate opponent, blasting him into oblivion. Having finished their fights, they were now looking at Kaito's fight, desperately holding themselves back so that they wouldn't interfere.
That changed the moment Jun released his zanpakutō. Feeling the massive burst of power coming from their only remaining opponent, Emi shot forward to aid Kaito, only to be stopped in her tracks by Kaito himself.
"Don't come near here Emi", Kaito shouted the moment he saw Emi move towards him, "we were given specific orders, now go destroy that cannon".
"But what about you?", Emi cried, she didn't want to leave her love alone while he was fighting someone this powerful.
"I'll be fine", Kaito replied. He noticed Emi being on the verge of tears. Remembering his oath, he steeled himself as he saw the rest of his friends move away towards their objective, dragging Emi with them in the process.
"I see, so she's the one you love", Jun sighed at the sight of the small love scene developing in front of him, "in that case, I'm sorry that I'll have to end your relationship, but it's somewhat hard to love a dead person. But you know what, I'll send her after you once I finish up here".
He was surprised to see Kaito stare at him with a murderous look in his eyes. Jun could swear they were glowing with a blue reiatsu.
"You won't hurt her, EVER!", Kaito roared as he charged at Jun, slashing violently, forcing Jun to take on a defensive stance, leaving him unable to attack.
"Damn you kid, I didn't want to do this to you, but you leave me no choice", Jun said as he used his speed to put some distance between him and the enraged shinigami.
"Slash him, Mouko", Jun shouted again as he focussed the aura enveloping his claw to the tips and slashed seemingly into thin air. Jun grinned as the glowing aura around his claw vanished. Kaito wondered what had just happened. He'd seen Jun swing his weapon at him while he was still far away from his opponent. He knew what had happened the second he felt the skin on his chest tear open.
"Is this the limit of your resolve Kaito?", Kaito heard his sword speak in his mind as he staggered backwards, clutching his wounded chest with his left hand.
"Like hell it is, who does this guy think he is, threatening Emi like that".
Kaito's rage was still seething in his mind, but as it slowly faded away, it was replaced by a resoluteness. He was not about to let Emi or himself die by the hand of his opponent.
"Then I suppose you're finally ready Kaito. Prepare yourself", his sword spoke as knowledge flooded Kaito's mind. Instantly, he knew almost everything about his zanpakutō as they conversed for hours inside his mental world when only a fraction of a second passed outside.
A bright flash in the distance illuminated the night sky, signifying the destruction of the cannon by the hand of one of Midorikawa's spells. The bright glow that was cast upon the two men duelling giving them an eerie presence.
"This ends here Kawazoe Jun", Kaito said as he planted his sword into the earth.
"Just to be sure, I'll tell you my name, Fujiwara Kaito. Remember it well", he said as he kneeled next to his sword, his head resting against the blade.
"Scorch the heavens. Slash the sky. HYAKUENRAI!"