Disclaimer: The ideas and concepts used in BLEACH belong to Tite Kubo, as well as any regular characters. Most of the characters in this story belong to me. Thank you.
The smoking cannon was lowered. Shin looked down at the slaughtered body that he failed to kill with dismay, then he looked up at Torsic's true killer with his soft, well-hidden rage.
"Who the hell are you?" Shin demanded.
"I" the young regent began "am Jayce Myoa, Regent of the Xierd Leek province and the mayor of the town. I have been appointed under the direct order of the emperor himself, and have sworn myself to rule over this land with the same sincerity and equality that my gracious lord intends to rule over the world with!"
"Oh" Shin said, "so you're his bitch boy?"
"No no no" Jayce corrected politely. "I'm a certified ruler! I'm like an emperor, but with much less power and only within this regio-Wait, DON'T CONFUSE ME! Why are you here in my main hall? Are you trying to assassinate me to provoke my lord!?"
"I'm looking for someone" Shin said "so I can kill him. You should know so I'll ask you: where's the mercenary captain?"
"That man?" Jayce asked. "I'm not sure where he went. He was going to check on his prized soldier, a man he keeps sealed in a steel box, but he has yet to reappear."
"Damn" Shin cursed. He repositioned his sword in front of him, the sharp edge glaring down Jayce, and took in a breath. "Well, killing you may be interesting. I've never gotten to fight someone with a range-only weapon before. This should be good practice for me."
"A challenge" Jayce said, pulling back the string of his crossbow. "You are a tenacious Death God, aren't you?"
"Actually" Shin began. He flash stepped over and reappeared in mid-step right next to Jayce. "I prefer the term 'shinigami'." Shin swung hard. Jayce recognized the danger and blocked with the metal bow of his crossbow shikai. Shin stepped away and then back in as Jayce spun around to engage Shin in close combat. Shin swung again, this time low and near the hip. Jayce blocked again, but Shin stepped in and pressed his sword hard into Jayce's defense. He positioned the pommel straight up and made an uppercut-slash which Jayce leaped away from, unable to defend. He landed and watched some hair from his head flutter softly in front of his eyes. Just as one strand passed through his vision Shin flashed ahead again and kicked Jayce square in the face.
"Guah!" Jayce screamed. He went tumbling across the floor for a bit, then grabbed it with his hands and pressed himself into the air where Shin was waiting with his blade drawn back. This man is incredibly fast! He isn't even using his shikai, either! Jayce threw up his arm and the crossbow began to tighten its spiritual string. "Blue Arrow!" Jayce shouted. A flash of blue appeared on the loading slot of the crossbow and the weapon prepared to fire.
Dodge it! Shikei shouted. Shin obliged and flipped backwards to disengage his flight, landing just in time. Jayce fired a lance of blue which shot out as a straight beam of light and hit the high wall. Shin looked at the area where the attack hit and saw a huge hole which soon filled itself with light. He was startled.
"That's the power of my weapon!" Jayce shouted. "The Vervunvuurmond can fire seven different types of arrows, all of them with a different devastating effect! You wisely dodged my unstoppable Blue arrow, and you already know the effects of my read arrow, but I'd like to see you survive the entire spectrum of pain that this weapon can create!" Shin saw that Jayce had twisted his face into a very villainous sneer, but after only a few seconds of his muscles twitching he sighed and let his face sink back into its natural, good-willed position. "Aah!" he sighed, "what trouble! I can't be very intimidating for long, it hurts my face!"
"When were you intimidating?" Shin asked. Jayce gasped and hopped back at the accusation.
"Why" Jayce began in an appalled tone, "how dare you, sir? I'm trying to be as un-gentlemanly as I can be to suit you, yet you walk over my efforts so callously with your harsh words. What an incredibly rude man you are! I doubt even my acting abilities will allow me to match such coldheartedness!"
"Then don't!" Shin shouted. Jayce became more serious at Shin's tone and waited to see what the shinigami had to say. Shin spun his sword around rapidly, stopping it with his left hand on the hilt and his right hand hear the tip of the blade, clutching carefully. "I'm not here to meet new people or make any new friends. I'm here to rid a grateful world of a troop of whores who sell their blades for petty cash! Act however you want, fight however you want, it really doesn't matter, because as soon as that merc captain shows his ugly-ass face I'm going to throw you into a cold ditch to die and work on killing him instead!"
What a fearsome man Jayce thought. The sheer tenacity and confidence with which he speaks provokes so much fear in me! He is not a man that will sway to the breeze of negotiation, he is a true warrior who understands no language but the sword! My worst nightmare!!! I can't even fight that well!!!
"Reaping time..." Shin lowed. Jayce felt the cold surge of evil energy in Shin and prepared his weapon for another attack. The moment Shin released, the battle would begin again, and it would most likely sway in the shinigami's direction. "SHIKEI!!!" Shin's sword erupted in a blast of black energy, and then the cloud of death dissolved to reveal his scythe. "Now, come, meet the void head on!"
"Green Arrow!" Jayce called. A new beam of light appeared on the wound string of the crossbow. The shaft of the magical arrow was warped and slithering like a snake, while the tip had four points around a central needle. Shin rushed in and Jayce fired. While in the air, Shin slashed his scythe and changed his position. The arrow went straight past him.
"You're not shooting a target" Shin said. "I'm trying to kill you!"
He hit Shikei said. Shin snapped to attention and looked at his leg. The arrow had coiled itself around his ankle and was preparing to bite. Shin swiped his scythe at the arrow and blew it into a clinging green mist. He stopped his flight and landed, trying to shake the green fog off his foot.
"What is this?" Shin asked. The fog started nipping at his skin and it began burning him. "Gah! Is this poison?"
"That's correct" Jayce said, summoning another green arrow to his weapon. "These arrows carry a neural poison that causes an intense rush of pain through the entire body! Even if the arrows don't bite, the residue they leave behind can seep in through the pores of the skin and-"
"You talk to much" Shin said. He flash-stepped and slammed his forehead into Jayce's. "Just try to kill me already." Jayce stuttered with pain, but then punched his weapon into Shin's side. The warrior showed absolutely no sign of moving. His eyes still flickered with a black fire of killing drive, one which nearly paralyzed Jayce before he could attack. He pushed through the fear and fired the arrow, but Shin was gone and the arrow flew into a table and dissolved the wood.
"Almost" Shin said. Jayce saw him above and noticed the slender black shaft of his scythe. Shin was standing on the blunt curve of his blade, avoiding the attack by using his scythe itself as a pole to vault up into the air. "If I weren't a good fighter I'd be dead by now."
"I don't get it" Jayce said, quickly backing away. "Are you mocking me or just complimenting yourself?"
"Both" Shin said. He kicked off of his scythe, falling straight down, and caught the grip on his scythe as he landed. Jayce was in full motion to equip another magical arrow, but Shin's quick feet propelled him into the close-combat range once gain. Shin started with a backhand slap with his right hand as his hips spun his torso sharply to the right. His scythe was equipped in his left hand, the arm fully extended and straight with the shaft, and the very end of his handle laying across his back. He was going to harvest Jayce's head straight off with a body-rotating slash, but the regent would have none of it.
"Orange Arrow" he lowed. His weapon equipped itself with a glowing orange arrow. He brought the crossbow up and blocked Shin's attack with a sizzling, blazing-hot blade that was equipped to his bow. "A super-hot metal blade! Not for firing, but for close-range combat!"
"Huh" Shin grunted. He snapped his wrist and spun his scythe around, reversing it's position and attacked again. Now his right hand was up on the handle and his left hand was low, bot powering the curved blade into Jayce's quick defense. "And here I thought you were a long-range only fighter. This makes it all the more fun!" Shin pushed Jayce's arm, lowering his guard, and then made a hard slash with just his left hand, letting his right arm fly out to the side. The attack threw Jayce off his guard and his feet and he went through the air, quickly regaining his balance. He aimed and fired the shot, which Shin spun away form with a grin. He rested the wrists of either hand on the handle of his scythe and propped it up on his shoulders. Then he lowered his face and gave a deadly sneer to Jayce, who nearly froze up.
"Indigo Arrow" Jayce summoned in a whisper. Shin jumped straight at Jayce, spinning as he went, and let his blade scrape across the ground to kick up sparks.
"I've worked on this for a while" Shin said "so I hope it will go over well." Jayce was frightened. He fired his arrow and hit Shin on the face, but a blast of black fire erupted from his eyes broke the arrow into a puff of smoke. "If not, I guess I'll just have to use you to retrain my style!"
"Orange Arrow!" Jayce quickly summoned. Shin flipped onto his feet and began swinging his scythe from hand to hand like a staff of some kind. The blade was always sweeping at Jayce, the shaft moving it in wide circular patterns. Shin switched it simply across his torso when the blade came down, then he made a horizontal slash and let the scythe take an extra swing as the shaft hooked itself around his wrist. Then he grabbed it and switched again, adding a new complex piece to his repetitious pattern.
"Huhuhuhu..." Shin lowed with laughter. He had driven Jayce into a corner and was still steadily building his attacking speed. "You can't move can you? You can't see any holes in my defense, right? You're screwed!" Jayce grunted and brought his off-hand to reinforce his crossbow and steady his block. The scythe was in its switching position when he did that, so Shin took the scythe back into both hands and made a huge slash from right to left. He stepped in with a lunge and twisted his waist to get as much force into the blow as he could. "Weakling!" he growled. He made a full follow through with his swing. The 360 degree arc he made in his attack formed a thin, black line in the air which dissolved and blasted a huge gust of wind out from a perfect circle around his feet. Once Jayce was safely situated inside the ruined wooden remains of his own throne, Shin glared up and lowered his scythe with a low thud to his shoulder. His right hand drifted into his pocket out of apathy.
"Saishuu Serifu" Shin said. "That's the style I developed specifically for my weapon. No one else can execute it, no one else can imitate it. It is an absolutefighting style. All offense, all defense, perfectly mobile and virtually unpredictable. It perfectly represents the unstoppable force that backs my natural power so much." Jayce coughed slightly and got himself out of the rubble. His crossbow was already equipped with a violet arrow that seemed to vibrate and move around rapidly while in the slender load of the bow. "It's the perfect style...for cutting off heads." Shin has just gotten serious, busting out a new, amazing fighting style on the political-minded Jayce. Young Jayce was courageously staring at Shin, disregarding the trickle of blood coming from his head, chest, arms, legs and the painful pull in his shoulders.
I've lost Jyace said to himself. Regardless of what will happen, just looking into those eyes, they tell me that I've lost..."Looks like you're doing well" Guy lowed. He stood in the darkness of some forbidden dungeon beneath the mayoral palace, a huge cage of solid steel walls in front of him. He drew out his sword and with a flash of light it vanished in his hands. Then he raised his arms up and shook the floor. "You haven't seen the sun in so many days, have you?" A terrible, monstrous growling came from the cage as the steel walls began to shake. Charms and seals, blessed with binding magic, started to wrinkle and peel from the walls that trapped the beast.
"RRRGH!!" it shouted, banging against its prison. The box shook violently, nearly tipping from one direction to another. Guy held out his open hand and somehow quelled his monster. With just a flick of his wrist the cage unlocked. A medley of chains and metallic locks clicked and the door began to swing open with a terrible hiss of stagnant air escaping and mingling with the air outside. A certain indistinguishable madness overtook the damp, dark room.
"Are you ready" Guy said "to see the sun again?" The monster let out a breathy growl and began exiting its cage. It's feet fell with heavy stomps that shook its metal prison, signaling its great weight. The box was built just barely higher than Guy himself but as the beast's shadow approached it was slouched down low with its head hung down. Chains were wrapped and coiled around the monster's body. With a snap of his fingers, Guy released those binds and his monster was free.
"Good" Guy said as the monster before him lowed. "You are still under my total control! My sword is still working on you! I didn't expect such a madman to be so susceptible to a simple hypnotism backed by the controlling nature of my sword. Now you're the most powerful maniac in my army!"
"...huuuuuuuhhhhh..." it breathed. Guy stepped back and turned to the stairs, then looked at his monster and pointed.
"Those" Guy said "are your steps to freedom. Destroy the intruding bastards in all-black garb and I will release you from the shackles that bind you!" The thing began walking forward, crossing a dim stream of light. He was easily two feet taller than Guy, measuring just under nine feet tall. His arms were long and slender, with curves of muscle rather than usual bulges and bumps that a shinigami would have. He wore no top but his pants were of tattered Seireitei shinigami variety, frayed like flames at the bottom. His sandals were broken and only the straps remained around his dirty, torn socks. He had no sword around his waist but the rope to hold a sheathe was present.
"Grrrrrr....." he growled, raising his head. Though the shadows covered his growling frame the contours of his face were apparent. He had a sharply-cut jawline, a very masculine face, and nose with a flat bridge and narrow nostrils. His eyes were only half-open but the glaring white from them made two bright orbs, and his wide mouth was only open to show his white, jagged teeth. He lowered his head to breath and five thin spikes of hair dropped from his head all the way down to his chin. The rest of his hair stayed in place, cut short to the top of his scalp. Then, with breath in his belly, he leaned back and gave a terrifying, hollow roar that shook the rafters even above the dungeon floor.
"RUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!" Guy Rose grinned with an evil sneer as he watched this monstrous shinigami of his display his might. His ultimate weapon had been unleashed at last, the man in the box was freed.
Vervenvuurmond (Dutch): Color Cannon
Saishu Serifuu: Last Words
