A/N: So…upon further examination of the outline, I've finally factored Karin into the plot in a way that I'm happy with. ^^ This arc is already underway and almost over, so I'm going to keep it going the way I originally intended, but the next two arcs (there's only two left in the story) are going to feature Karin (and Ongetsu) in a lot of interesting ways. Without going into too many details, there's a bit of a mental block in place that prevents her from using Ongetsu to the fullest. This will be explored in the next arc, and then…welllll…we might start hearing a certain plot-heavy two syllables from her~

By the way, I just noticed how punny Ichigo's new position is. xD He, Ichigo (1-5), is the number one shinigami (Ichi-seki/Isseki/First seat) of the number five division (Gobantai). I can't remember if that crossed my mind when I gave the captaincy to him or not.

The Kohaku scene was intended to be 10x more serious than it was. But she's Kohaku, she kind of took over. Seriousness next chapter, I guess.

Trials update soon. Tomorrow or Monday, probably. I've decided that Trials is also going to be significantly focused on Ichigo as well, since...there's a certain life development between him and Rukia that gets glossed over in Chasing. ^^

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. At all.

Chapter 23: Reflections of truth

The street up ahead was a wreck, souls fleeing in all directions from a group of six Hollows that were tearing through the town. Masa and Kohaku skidded to a stop, watching as a pair of shinigami—a man and a woman—fought against the Hollows, disappearing and reappearing in the air as they darted between the creatures. Up ahead, the sounds of battle continued, ringing throughout the street.

Masa glanced at the Sixth Division shinigami. They were holding their own well enough, but there were more Hollows than he would have liked, and the fact that the battle continued further up the street disturbed him. He took one more flash step, then came to a stop, landing in the center of the street amid the battle.

"Iwase!" he said, turning towards the girl next to him.

"On it," said Kohaku, appearing in the air beside him briefly before disappearing again. He saw her appear on one of the rooftops, running quickly towards the battle up ahead. One of the Hollows spotted her, letting out a loud roar as it rushed towards her. A second rounded a corner up ahead and began to run, taking huge steps as it lumbered towards him.

Masa didn't waste any time. He slid his zanpakuto from its sheath in one fluid motion, holding the blade out in front of him.

"Slice open the sky!" he commanded, his reiatsu flaring, "Setsuyoku!"

The blade in his hands rippled, becoming liquid steel. Masa pulled it apart with both hands, twin streams of steel forming around each of his hands. They moved, becoming a pair of bladed steel rings. He leaped into the air, throwing the one in his left hand at the Hollow attacking Kohaku. She didn't even flinch as it neared her, jumping nimbly out of the way of the Hollow's attack as the ring struck the back of its head, cutting straight through the Hollow like a saw blade.

Masa barely glanced to make sure that the attack hit, spinning rapidly in the air as he approached the second Hollow. He grabbed the second ring with both hands, holding it out in front of him and cutting a corkscrew pattern across the Hollow's front. Both Hollows disintegrated, vanishing into motes of darkness. He held out his left hand as the spinning ring returned to him, catching it without looking.

He glanced up, but Kohaku was already gone, a figure in the distance as she hurried towards the remaining battle. Masa looked away from her, his eyes moving towards another pair of Hollows as they surrounded one of the shinigami. The shinigami raised his sword, but it was clear that he was already wounded. His right arm drooped, and his blade faltered, blood soaking through the fabric of his shihakusho. He kept his back to the wall, breathing heavily.

Masa raised both of the rings, holding them in front of him so that they were on top of each other, parallel to the ground. He pointed them at the hollows.

"Setsuyoku: Tetsuka," he called.

Light shimmered over the rings in his hands, the steel exploding outward as it rushed towards the shinigami. It split apart into a thousand daggers, the blades swerving in the air as they rushed towards one of the Hollows. Light reflected off of them as they stabbed downward, riddling the nearest Hollow with holes. Masa appeared in the air, right behind it.

He stretched out his hand, calling Setsuyoku back. Liquid steel rushed out of the wreckage of the Hollow, forming a sword in his hand. It was bigger than his ordinary katana, curved like a scimitar, with a large, fluid edge. Masa held it in both hands as he fell, swinging it down onto the fourth Hollow with a shout. The blow split the Hollow in half from mask to Hollow hole, droplets of steel flying as he landed on the ground. He shifted the blade to his right hand as the Hollow disappeared, turning towards the shinigami.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

The shinigami lowered his sword, his other hand closing around his wounded shoulder. The wound looked bad—a Hollow bite, probably, but nothing that the shinigami couldn't recover from.

"I'll live," he said. "Who are you?"

"Ankoujin Masaryu," said Masa. "Third Seat of the Fifth Division. You?"

"Yamagishi Kazuhiko," said the man. He sucked in a pained breath, his hand tightening around his shoulder. "Fifth Seat of the Sixth."

"Fifth Seat Yamagishi," said Masa, with a nod. "Are Kuchiki-taicho and the others nearby?"

Yamagishi sagged against the wall, speaking through pained breaths. He looked up at the sky. "Megumi—that is, Sixth Seat Okada—she's here with me," he said. "Third Seat Shiyougi and Fourth Seat Koyanagi are up ahead. We don't know where the captain and vice-captain are. We've been separated from them for two days now."

"Understood," said Masa, nodding. "Stay here. Help will come soon."

He left Yamagishi there, flash-stepping onto the roof of the nearest building. Masa glanced back at where the sixth seat was fighting off the last two Hollows, Setsuyoku's scimitar form still in his hand. He glanced north once, where Kohaku's reiatsu flared up, then turned his attention back towards Okada.

Kohaku would be fine. He was sure of it. So would Yuzu, and Ichigo.

For now, he had a job to do. He'd finish off those last two Hollows, and then go and help Kohaku.

That in mind, Masa flash-stepped towards Okada Megumi.

Kohaku appeared on the rooftop, overlooking the battle. She crouched down, one hand on her zanpakuto's hilt as she studied the scene. A group of Hollows had stormed the street, chasing down a pair of harried shinigami. One of them was a big man, carrying some sort of spear. The other was a smaller, dark-haired man carrying what looked like a large nodachi. She recognized the second as Shiyougi Hideki, the third seat who was also Yuzu's friend. She took another flash-step, landing in the street among them as they dashed into an alleyway.

"Yo," she said as she landed, behind them, grinning.

Shiyougi jumped back, and the big man turned and stared. Kohaku straightened, dusting herself off. In the street outside the alley, she could hear the Hollows closing in on them.

Shiyougi recovered quickly, peeling himself away from the wall. "Who the hell are you?!" he asked.

"Iwase Kohaku," said Kohaku, smiling. "Fourth Seat of the Third Division. Don't worry, guys from Sixth. Help has arrived!"

Shiyougi and his companion didn't look too convinced. The third seat frowned at her, looking her over. Smallish girl, braided hair, big glasses? Well, she wouldn't be confident too in his situation. But that was because he had never experienced her awesomeness yet.

His companion was even less convinced. He folded his arms, frowning at her. "The Third sent a midget to help us?"

"Hey, I take offense to that remark!" said Kohaku, turning towards him. "I'll have you know that I'm only an inch shorter than your vice-captain. Besides, I'm not here with the Third. I'm here with Fifth. Well—sort of. Anyway. That's not important. You—Third Seat Shiyougi—." She pointed at him. "What's the situation?"

"The…situation?" asked Shiyougi.

"Did I stutter, Shiyougi?" she asked.

"We ran into some trouble with an Arrancar the other day," said the other guy, filling in for his Third Seat. "They used some kind of kido spell to trap Sixth Seat Okada in stone. We got her out, but we lost Kuchiki-taicho and Kurosaki-fukutaicho."

"And you are?" asked Kokahu, turning towards him.

"Koyanagi Gorou," said the man. "Fourth Seat."

"Right," said Kohaku, nodding. "Thanks for filling me in. So, how can I help you boys today?"

"Well, for starters," said Shiyougi in a flat tone, pointing at the side of the alley. "Maybe, do something about those Hollows?"

Kohaku frowned, turning to survey the situation. There were about five Hollows in the street outside, all of them closing in on this alley. She nodded sagely, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "Understood," she said. "I'll take care of them using my secret technique."

Without warning, she surged forward, grabbing both Koyanagi and Shiyougi by their collars and dragging them down the alleyway. Shiyougi's eyes widened, and he hurried to keep pace with her as the Hollows burst through.

"Your secret technique is RUNNING AWAY?!" he demanded incredulously.

"Please, I'm just getting started," said Kohaku, dragging the two of them through the alley as the Hollows tore up the area behind. She ignored her complaints, her eyes narrowing as she focused on getting them back out into the open. If she remembered from when she was coming over here, this alley led out into an open space, a square surrounded by buildings. If she had that, then—.

The three of them burst out into sunlight, the Hollows following close behind. Kohaku quickly released both Shiyougi and Koyanagi, running forward. She jumped, leaping onto the side of the building on the other side of the square and using the wall as another jump off point. Below and behind her, the five Hollows tore through the alley, bursting into the street.

She drew her sword, twisting around in the air.

"Come out to play!" she commanded. "Ayatori!"

The sword in her hands dissolved in a flash of light. Dust flew as the Hollows spilled out into the square, rushing towards her. Kohaku's hands moved through the light and dust, closing around something that was almost invisible. For an instant, sunlight flashed against several thin metal wires, coiled around her fingers and trailing down into the streets below. The wires wrapped around the Hollows, trapping them and holding them in place as they struggled. Kohaku's eyes narrowed, and she closed her hand into a fist.

The wires constricted and sharpened, tearing the Hollows to pieces. Motes of darkness rose up from the five of them, coiling like smoke in the air. She finished her turn and landed, suspended above the square on a network of metal wires that was attached to five of the buildings. The wires criss-crossed in the air, giving her enough space to stand on, before finally coming to an end wrapped around each of her fingers.

"Alright!" she said, looking out over the street as the light reflected against her glasses. "Who's next?!"

"Kyoka Suigetsu?" Karin repeated, staring at Toshiro.

Toshiro nodded, closing the folder in front of him. "At the moment, it's only a theory," he said. "Kuchiki-taicho claims that Kiyomizu Hanako has a reiatsu signature similar, perhaps even the same, as Aizen Sosuke's. Given what Asakawa said about her not being human, and the fact that Arrancar willingly follow her...it's the easiest conclusion."

"But it—she was destroyed, wasn't she?" asked Karin, sitting up. "At the end of the Winter War."

Toshiro paused, his eyes darkening. "We saw Kyoka Suigetsu destroyed," he said after a while. "But we 'saw'…many other things that day."

"An illusion?" asked Karin, frowning. She turned around, leaning over the back of the couch so that she could face him. "That doesn't make any sense. Ichi-nii saw it too, and he was always immune to Aizen's illusions."

"There are other ways to trick people besides illusions," said Toshiro. He frowned. "Maybe we did see what we saw. Who knows? Maybe the fact that she's here has nothing to do with Aizen's plans. Maybe she's just here on her own. In any case, if Kyoka Suigetsu is the one we're facing, we have to treat this as a serious threat to Soul Society. Having Aizen's zanpakuto loose could easily turn out as dangerous as Aizen himself."

Karin scowled, considering the situation for a moment. She leaned back in her seat, staring up at the ceiling as she thought it through.

"Kill him," she said, matter-of-factly.

"What?" asked Toshiro, looking over at her.

"Aizen," said Karin. "If a shinigami dies, so does his zanpakuto spirit. Just kill him and get it over with."

"If we could kill Aizen, don't you think he'd already be dead?"

"Then let me fight," said Karin, sitting up. She clenched her hands into fists at her side, feeling sick again. "Illusions are just another type of kido. Ongetsu's Reiba can cut through them, easy."

Toshiro frowned at her. "Where Aizen is concerned, things are never easy," he said. "Besides, you don't even know that your Reiba can cut through illusions. You've never had a chance to try that before."

Yes I have, and yes I do.

The words were on the tip of her tongue, but she held them back just in time, biting her lip instead. Yuzu's secret was her own. She wasn't going to reveal it—not even to Toshiro. Instead, what she said was "There's no reason why it wouldn't work that way."

Toshiro moved back around the couch, coming to stand in front of her. He looked her in the eye. "How long can you keep using Reiba?" he asked. "Actively?"

Karin stared up at him in defiance, her eyes narrowing. She scowled. He had her there, as much as she hated to admit it. "…Five minutes," she said after a while, lowering her eyes and looking away. "On a good day."

"And you want to go up against Kyoka Suigetsu with an ability you can barely control?" asked Toshiro.

It's not my fault Ongetsu's a brat.

She kept that thought to herself. It sounded too much like whining. Her hands clenched tighter, to the point that they were shaking.

Toshiro went on. "If you're right about your abilities, Ongetsu's probably one of the best shots we have," he said. "Which is all the more reason to not go in half-baked."

"I can't lose anyone else, Toshiro," she said, hating the way her voice broke as she said it. She stared at him, eyes wide. "I can't."

There won't be anything left of me…

Her words stuck in her throat and she hugged her arms close to herself, thinking of the darkness after her mother's death, the emptiness, the feeling of breaking. Her grip tightened, her fingertips pressing hard enough to bruise her skin. Never again, she thought to herself. Never again. She never wanted to feel that powerless again.

The couch moved, shifting as Toshiro sank down beside her. Karin collapsed as he placed his hand on her shoulder, shaking with the effort of keeping herself together. She wanted to lash out, to hit something, to scream, but she couldn't. It was Toshiro. So instead, she let him pull her to him, his movements tentative as his arms encircled her. One of her hands uncurled from around her arm, finding purchase in his shihakusho.

"You won't lose anyone," he said, his voice steady in her ear. "And even if you do, I'll be here."

You won't lose anyone…

She really, really wanted to believe that.

Byakuya raised his hand, a flurry of steel petals rushing towards Kyoka Suigetsu. Yuzu stared, her hand still on the hilt of her sword. She remained where she stood, watching as Kyoka Suigetsu smirked, waving her sword in the air in front of her. The barrage struck, Senbonzakura's blades carving up the house's earthen floor. It was an impressive attack, but—

She's…not there…

Yuzu's eyes darted to the side, catching sight of movement. Kyoka Suigetsu stood a few feet away from her, a smirk on her face. Her appearance slowly shifted, the business-like suit from the living world fading away, and becoming replaced by an elegant many-layered kimono. The kimono was mostly blue and white, the skirts fanning around her a way that made the cloth look like ripples on the surface of the water. The glasses she was wearing disintegrated, revealing sharp blue eyes, instead of Kiyomizu's hazel brown. Her hairstyle changed as well, the bun changing so that her long brown hair was pinned up in a style that suggested flower petals. She held the sword in her hand, the blade pointed down towards the ground.

Yuzu turned her attention to Byakuya. Instead of attacking Kyoka Suigetsu, who was standing a few feet away, he had turned his Senbonzakura onto the wall of the building, the petal blades crashing through and into the street outside. She watched as he turned, his eyes narrowed in concentration, and pulled the petals closer to him to defend against an attack she couldn't see, pushing them outwards to fight an imaginary attacker. Her grip tightened on Jungetsu, and she glanced at Kyoka Suigetsu again.

Kyoka Suigetsu turned her eyes towards her. "That's right," she said, as if Byakuya wasn't fighting just a few feet away from her. "You haven't seen my shikai, have you?"

Illusion.

Yuzu thought back to what she knew about Kyoka Suigetsu, covered in their history textbooks back at the Academy. The zanpakuto's illusions were complete, but only if the target had seen the shikai before. Byakuya had obviously seen it. Yuzu hadn't. So, for the moment, she was safe from the illusion.

Not that Kyoka Suigetsu seemed to think that that was any cause for concern.

She didn't waste time. There wasn't any. Yuzu flash-stepped forward, drawing Jungetsu from its sheath and swinging as hard as she could.

Kyoka Suigetsu didn't even blink. She simply reached out with her free hand as Yuzu appeared in the air, catching Yuzu's blade with the palm of her hand. Her fingers closed around it, unfazed, and she looked down at it, staring down at Jungetsu with mild interest, as if it was a nothing more than a curiosity.

"Oh?" she said, sounding slightly amused. "What a pathetic little sister."

She pushed then, with enough force to send Yuzu flying back into a wall. Rotten wood exploded outward as she fell back into it, sending dust flying and knocking the wind out of her. As Yuzu watched, helpless, Kyoka Suigetsu flash-stepped forward, her sword piercing through the air. It stabbed straight through the front of Yuzu's chest, piercing her heart.

The illusion came apart with a sound like breaking glass, shattering into a million pieces. Yuzu appeared behind Kyoka Suigetsu, trailing dust in the air as she slashed at the back of the woman's neck with one of her fans. Kyoka Suigetsu's eyes narrowed, and she turned, slashing upward with one hand. Yuzu caught the slash with the side of her fan, the force behind it pushing her hand upward.

"Interesting," said Kyoka Suigetsu, bringing her sword into a downward slash. Yuzu jumped out of the way, the cut barely missing her. "So, your technique shows me what I most want? How would you know what that is?"

"Jungetsu knows," said Yuzu, sweeping her fan to the side to knock away a thrust. "I don't have to."

"I see," said Kyoka Suigetsu. "And you've learned to time the illusion with your zanpakuto's release." She smirked. "Very clever."

"I'm not looking for your approval," said Yuzu, using her other fan to swipe out at Kyoka Suigetsu's torso. The zanpakuto spirit stepped back, moving effortlessly out of the strike.

"No," she said, meeting Yuzu's eyes. "No, you wouldn't be."

Something pink flashed out of the corner of her vision. Yuzu's eyes widened, and she quickly flash-stepped out of the way as a wave of Senbonzakura's petals crashed through, tearing through the space where she had just been standing. She appeared in the air, landing on the ground a few feet away. Yuzu stared in shock as Byakuya moved his hand, calling the petals back to him.

"Taicho!" she said, as Senbonzakura's petals swirled around him, hovering menacingly in the air.

"He can't hear you, Yuzu dear," said Kyoka Suigetsu, smirking at her. "To him, you're still cowering in your corner like the good little mouse that you are. In fact, to him, you're me."

Yuzu's eyes widened as Byakuya raised his hand again, the full force of Senbonzakura's petals tearing through the air towards her. She quickly darted out of the way, leaving an afterimage behind, one of Kyoka Suigetsu standing still, her eyes narrowed in defiance as Byakuya's petals tore through her. Three cuts appeared on the sleeve of her robe as she jumped out of the way, not quite managing to clear out in time. She felt blood slowly beginning to trickle down her arm, where one of the petals had cut her.

Kyoka Suigetsu's eyes were fixed on the afterimage, and Yuzu realized that it was visible to her too.

"Even from under my own illusion…?" she muttered to herself.

Yuzu seized her chance, her heart pounding in her chest as she landed on the ground. She flash-stepped forward, appearing in the air behind Kyoka Suigetsu, and grabbed onto the woman's shoulders from behind. Before she could react, Yuzu focused all her energy onto Byakuya, praying silently that this would work.

She activated Shinkyo.

There was a sound like glass shattering. "Taicho!" she shouted. "Here!"

Byakuya turned, his eyes narrowed as he swept his hand towards the two of them. Yuzu quickly released Kyoka Suigetsu, flash-stepping out of the way as the attack came through. The zanpakuto spirit's eyes widened, and she threw up her arms in an attempt to defend herself. She caught the brunt of Byakuya's attack head-on, the force of it throwing her back and into the wall and knocking the breath out of her. Rips appeared in the fabric of her rich kimono.

The petals pulled back, hovering in the air around Byakuya. He looked around, studying the space around him as though he were confused. Yuzu realized that to him, Kyoka Suigetsu must have disappeared. The petals hovered in the air, not moving, so that for a moment the scene looked frozen in time.

Kyoka Suigetsu picked herself up off the ground, the sleeve of her outer kimono in tatters and some of her hair having escaped its elaborate bun. Blood spattered against the floor where Byakuya's attack had cut her, but from what Yuzu could see, her injuries appeared minor, at least compared to the injury to her pride. Her eyes narrowed, and the smirk she gave Yuzu was nothing short of savage.

"I see," she said. "He wants to see reality, so you, for a few seconds, give it to him. Very clever. Very, very clever."

Yuzu shrank back, raising her fans in front of her for defense. Her eyes widened as Kyoka Suigetsu raised her sword, pointing it at her. A wave of power pulsed outward from her, so strong that for a moment it was hard to breathe. She couldn't fight that, she realized. At the moment, there was only one thing she could do.

"Bakudo # 26: Kyokko!" she shouted, moving her hand in front of her.

Kyoka Suigetsu came through, her sword slicing through empty air as Yuzu flash-stepped out of the way. At the same time, light wrapped around her, muffling her reiatsu and hiding her from view. She fell back against the wall, breathing hard and fingering a tear in the front of her shihakusho where Kyoka Suigetsu's sword had almost cut her.

"Kyokko?!" asked Kyoka Suigetsu loudly, whirling around so that she was facing the whole room. "You think Kyokko can hide you from me? Have you forgotten who I am?!"

Yuzu said nothing, her heart pounding so loud that she was sure Kyoka Suigetsu could hear it. Kyokko bought invisibility, but against a skilled kido practitioner, its effects could only last a little while. She had only moments until she was found out, moments to think of a plan. Moments…

"Kurosaki."

The voice was Byakuya's. Yuzu froze, turning towards him. He wasn't looking at her, speaking instead to the room as a whole. Kyoka Suigetsu stopped as well, pointing her sword at him.

"If you can hear my voice, leave the building immediately," said Byakuya. "Set up a barrier around yourself, and do not attempt to cross it."

Taicho…

Yuzu remained where she was, her heart pounding. There wasn't time—Kyoka Suigetsu stood between her and the door.

Byakuya waited the two moments it would have taken her to leave the building if she could, and then his reiatsu flared, reaching a level that she had never felt from him before. It crackled around him, filling the air. Senbonzakura's petals retreated, forming back into a sword in his hand. As Yuzu watched, he raised his eyes, slowly turning the sword over. Byakuya released it, and the sword fell into the ground, the earthen floor rippling around it like water as the blade disappeared.

The air grew dark.

"Bankai," said Byakuya calmly, several large blades rising up from the earth on either side of him. "Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."

A wave of reiatsu tore through the air, causing both Ichigo and Rukia to look up. Ichigo frowned, turning towards it. Beside him, Rukia also turned to look, wide-eyed. It was made up of two reiatsu signatures intertwined, both of which he recognized. The first because he was familiar with it by now, the second because after the Winter War, he would recognize it anywhere.

"That's…" Ichigo began.

"Nii-sama," Rukia finished for him. "And…Aizen."

Ichigo nodded, his hand going to Zangetsu's hilt. "Looks like Byakuya was right," he said. His hand tightened on Zangetsu's hilt and he turned, sensing another set of reiatsus making their way down the street. Masa, and a bunch of other people, fighting in the opposite direction. Rukia's eyes moved towards it as well.

"Rukia," said Ichigo. "I'll leave it to you."

"Understood," said Rukia, nodding. "Be careful, Ichigo."

He nodded back. The two of them turned, so that for a moment, they were standing with their backs to each other. Then, they both flash stepped, disappearing from sight. Ichigo reappeared in the air a few feet away, running on the rooftop towards the source of the battle.

Hang in there, he thought, as he ran. Yuzu. Byakuya…

…I'm on my way.

Rukia skidded to a stop on a rooftop as a shot impacted the tiles beneath her, sending splinters flying everywhere. She threw up her arm to protect her face, her other hand going to her zanpakuto. The dust cleared, and she looked up, her eyes narrowing.

An Arrancar stood on the other side of the roof, a grin on her face. Her eyes were fixed on Rukia. Beside her was a human man, carrying a gun. Or at least, he appeared to be human. Rukia's eyes narrowed, as she felt his reiatsu.

Something was wrong.

Catalina stepped forward, her eyes on Rukia. Her grin widened. "Good shooting, Jin," she said, her hand on her zanpakuto's hilt. "It looks like we've caught a pretty little shinigami."

Rukia said nothing, silently beginning to draw her sword.

TO BE CONTINUED

A/N: Ayatori (綾取り, figure seizing or twill seizing) is Iwase Kohaku's zanpakuto. While the kanji characters do mean 'figure seize', the word itself translates best to English as 'Cat's Cradle', as in the string game. When used, the sword splits apart into several strands of steel wire, which Kohaku can use to bind her opponents, cut them, or form a platform to walk on. The wires can be either sharp or dull depending on Kohaku's preference, with dull being the default, and sharp requiring concentration and energy. Its release command is "Come out to play." It has been noted that Kohaku's Ayatori necessitates that she fight primarily with hakuda while her shikai is in use.

Fun fact, Ayatori was originally the zanpakuto I was going to give Yachiru, before Kubo revealed her real zanpakuto in the canon. So now, Kohaku gets to have some fun.

Setsuyoku: Tetsuka (切翼: 鉄霞, cutting wings: iron haze), is a technique of Ankoujin Masaryu's Setsuyoku, and translates to one of Setsuyoku's five basic forms. Masa switches between Setsuyoku's five basic forms at will, and each form has its own associated technique (some more difficult than others). Tetsuka is the attack that corresponds to Setsuyoku's projectile form. When Masa uses Tetsuka, Setsuyoku splits apart into countless shards of steel, which attack an enemy at once. (He is aware that it resembles Senbonzakura, and does not like that comparison.)

Enjoyed the fights this chapter? Didn't enjoy them? *points down at review box* Let me know what you think, and keep an eye out for the Trials update coming soon!