Chapter 47: The Game

Verena took in the new form of Kyoraku's zanpakuto. The duel swords looked even more dangerous than before. The spiritual power coming off of them was incredible. She'd only felt this level of power from Urahara and it was beginning to look like she'd made a mistake in fighting him.

"Oh, this isn't good." Kyoraku spoke, his voice deep but with a slight laziness to it. Verena felt a shiver go down her spine. She really disliked how this captain acted both here and in the living world. It was...unsettling. "You awoke up my sword and now it wants to play a game."

Huh? she thought, however those words caught her zanpakuto spirit's attention.

Be careful. the spirit spoke with warning. I do not like the sound of this. Only a few days ago did the spirit began speaking to her and now it spoke to her as if they'd been friends all their lives! It was strange. The tiger spirit was deadly, she knew that; but something was holding it back from lending her its true power. As if sensing her thoughts the tiger answered. You're not ready for my true power.

"The ability of my swords in shikai are to make children's games real." Kyoraku explained. "Bushogoma is the name of the first." Shunsui rotated with both blades facing in opposite directions, creating large wind blades that fired at Verena. The wind blades join together, forming a spinning circle of wind that created a tornado around Verena. The wind obliterated her fire by sucking the air out from around her. The attack wasn't just dangerous, but began to disorient her within the funnel.

Verena felt light headed from the attack. Holding her hand out towards the right she spoke an incantation nobody could hear. A golden shield suddenly surrounded her with condensed reiatsu that blocked the attack which caused the attack to dissipate. Though impressed that she withstood his attack Shunsui understood that he probably shouldn't have made her mad as now her eyes seemed to glow brightly with determination to defeat him.

This isn't good. he thought as takaoni was about to activate.

Tatsuki's lightning strike was deflected by the large soul reapers shikai form of his zanpakuto. She realized that Orihime had yet to use her attack. "Orihime! Uryuu! Attack him!" she ordered both.

"Oh? Another unknown ability?" the man stated with a laziness to his voice. "I am Jirobo Ikkanzaka, fourth seat of the seventh division and had you met any other, you may have lived to see another day. I am-"

"Shut up you over-boastful bastard!" Tatsuki yelled at him. "Like I give a damn who you are or what you do." Her blades suddenly formed in her hands. "You're a nobody. A nothing. So just shut the fuck up!" Her body lit up with her power before sending her off towards him. With her first strike she kicked him in his gut before spinning and kicking him again, this time her foot hit him in the chin sending his head backwards and body falling towards the ground.

Before he could yell at his zanpakuto for a counter attack Orihime's voice sounded. "Hinagiku! Baigon! Lily! Santen Kesshun! I repel thee!" she yelled. A large orange shield suddenly appeared in front of Orihime and around her two friends. I'm useful too! she thought. Ishida had to save me before, but I've trained hard with my new abilities. I can protect them as they fight!

Ishida concentrated a bit of energy and created his bow. As the shinigami male stood up from Tatsuki's attack he shot off a dozen arrows at the man's flying shikai, destroying the small projectiles.

Orihime gathered her courage. She knew if she didn't finish off the shinigami, he would do much worse to them. "Tsubaki!" she yelled as she pointed at the man. "Santen Kesshun! I repel thee!" The tiny male being appeared from her pin before rushing forward and vanishing from sight before suddenly the man grasped his chest, gave a gasp before he exploded from the inside out. Blood splattered everywhere on the rooftop.

The two friends stared at the pool of blood in surprise. They knew Orihime's powers were strong but they hadn't expected that to happen. In her mind, Tatsuki recalled this happening once before when the hollow had attacked the at their school. "Orihime," she turned towards her best friend. "are you okay?"

Panting from exerting so much energy, Orihime have a nod. As her shields returned to their true forms, Ishida touched her wrist. "Don't use that power too much." he warned her, not wanting her to feel like she had to kill people to keep them safe. "Use it as a last resource. It uses too much of you power and energy."

"Alright." she quickly agreed with him, not seeing the real reason behind the warning; but Tatsuki did.

Verena panted slightly. She had barely survived the game of takaoni. The captain seemed excited that there was someone who keep up with him. He kind of reminded her of an excited kid. Kyoraku was looking at her, as if trying to determine if she could take on the next level of the game. Kageoni. The rule of this game was that whoever gets their shadow stepped on loses. The game itself allows competitors to manipulate shadows to their advantage. He wondered if she'd be able to survive this or if he would end up hurting her worse than he'd mean to. She had so much potential! This battle had shown him that.

Suddenly she moved slightly, though she remained where she'd been standing. A trick of my eyes? he wondered. He could've sworn she'd been closer. It was then a frown came over his features. Blood was on her sword.

"Sorry," she spoke apologetically just as Kyoraku coughed up blood onto the ground and stumbled slightly. "as entertaining as your sword's games are, Sengetsu was getting bored."

Kyoraku raised his head as he wiped the blood from his mouth. The young woman had used her fastest flash step to cut him from the front before hitting him from behind, only to return to her original spot as to deceive him into thinking she hadn't moved. Impressive. he thought as a smile spread across his face. Yoruichi has taught her well. There was no doubt now that the Flash Queen herself had taught this teenager how to move so quickly.

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! On the wall of blue flame, inscribe a twin lotus. In the abyss of conflagration, wait at the far heavens." As the words left her mouth she began generating blue energy with both of her index and middle fingers, Verena made a pushing motion with both of her palms to push the gathered energy toward the Kyoraku in a concentrated blast. "Hado 73. Soren Sokatsui."

Oh dear. Kyoraku thought as the blast hit him head on, sending him through not one but two walls through the eighth division. At the same time Nano's eyes widened in surprise as her captain was defeated by a Ryoka. She suddenly felt something hit her on the back of her neck, darkness coming over her.

Lisa caught Nano before she hit the ground. Laying her former ally on the ground gently, she took stock of Verena. The teenager had used up a lot of energy on her last attack against Kyoraku. She knew her former captain could be very stubborn when it came to a fight. "We should go before he recovers." She told the young girl who have a nod in agreement.

The two women took off towards the towers where the elder of the two thought they'd find Urahara. Little did they realize how wrong they'd be.

Kisuke stared at Mayuri from his imprisoned cell. The scientist was contemplating everything that Kisuke had told him. "It makes perfect sense." he stated. "How could a lieutenant like him become a captain in such a short time. Nobody has even seen his bankai, but he must have one, right?"

"I don't think anybody wants to know what that sword of his can do in bankai." Urahara warned.

"If what you hypothesized is correct and his sword his the source of our delusions," Mayuri began.

"It must be destroyed." Kisuke finished with a seriousness about him that Mayuri hadn't seen in a long time. The question was though, how do you destroy a zanpakuto without destroying the soul it belonged to? If it came down to it, Aizen would just have to be killed was Mayuri's only answer to that problem; but where would the fun be in that?

M-Angel: Yay, another chapter to this story! So glad everyone has been enjoying this story. I hope I'm doing alright with this arc.

CRed1988 - No, I'm not dead. I've been busy with my other bleach story is all.

Darkmaster10000000 - I hope this chapter was better in length?

Antex The Legendary Zoroark - Yeah. Hopefully I won't get distracted.

Lineheart - Sorry. I do try to get all the grammar problems.

GunBlade2020 - LoL! I didn't realize that until now. Hahaha...

Cass - I'm glad you're enjoying the story.