Chapter 23: The Greatest Marksman
The Lieutenant of the 6th Squad, Reed Target, lies broken and bleeding in the rubble of what used to be a 6th Squad building. Looming over him is the Arrancar Leo, whose Ressureccion form not only gave him an animalistic appearance, looking like a demonic Lion, covered in the bone-like Arrancar mask material, but also the mindset of an animal, focused entirely on killing it's prey. As he lifted his paw to deal the final blow, ripping out Reed's throat, a searing pain shot through his paw, causing him to yelp before a stream of blood began to flow.
On the building behind him, the main building of the 6th Squad Headquarters, stood the Captain himself, Kai Bullet, with a gun in either hand. He was acclaimed as the 'Best Shot' in all of Soul Society and has never missed a target once when using his weapon of choice; a gun.
"I'd step away from him if I were you" said Kai "The next shot will definitely hit one of your vitals." The normally carefree Captain sounded a great deal more serious than usual, and while his eyes were hidden behind his trademark sunglasses, they were filled with rage.
Leo turned around to meet the man, whom his animal mind assumed was trying to steal his prey. Ignoring the damaged and immobile Lieutenant, he turned on the Captain. The thought of fighting Kai excited him as he ran towards Kai at an inhuman speed.
"So fast!" Thought Kai who was given just a split second to dodge the attack. Leo's paws easily crushed the section of roof that the Captain had been standing on.
"Strong too…" he thought "Seems pretty perfect, but even the strongest have a weak point somewhere" he thought as he flicked open the cylinder of his Revolvers. Even though he had already shot a bullet and had no time to reload since then, all six chambers on both revolvers were full with an opaque blue flame.
"Reload! Special Bullet: Explosive Shell!" he called as the blue flame changed into a fiercer red flame before he flicked cylinder back in and fired a single shot from both guns at the underside of Leo's body as Leo leapt towards him. The bullets collided with the Arrancar's body and exploded on impact, creating a black smokescreen as well as causing damage
"Hehe, surprised?" asked Kai "That's my Zanpakutou! Tamasaru's special ability! The bullets my guns shoot are made from my own reiatsu, which means I have an infinite number of shots until I run out of reiatsu. Since I'm pumping my own reiatsu into them, I can also changed the properties of the bullet by changing the amount of reiatsu I use." He explained "You're pretty fast and strong, but that must mean that you have a weak defence! I figured you'd be a glass cannon and used the Explosive Shell. Only a master tactitian would-" he started before he was cut off by a roar from the smoke.
When the smokescreen cleared, Leo stood virtually undamaged from the powerful attack.
"Tch…Looks like I was mistaken. That full-body Armour is pretty tough to break." He sighed "…Hmm…What's that?" he asked himself, noticing a small area of flesh that was revealed when the explosion broke a small piece of armour off.
"I see…If I can hit there…" He muttered "Alright, that will do it. I'm ready for you" Bring it, you dumbass Lion!" he laughed as he flicked open the cylinders again
"Reload! Special Bullet: Ice Shell!" he called as the fierce red flames changed into a soft light blue flame. Leo snarled before dashing at Kai again, even faster this time, now taking the fight more seriously. His animalistic instincts were telling him that this foe was strong, strong enough that it could break his armour. Unable to dodge fast enough, Kai's leg was caught in the attack, and was cut deeply. Kai grunted as he fell to the ground, clutching his leg. Leo quickly jumped upon him and Kai was forced to frantically roll away from the Lions ruthless assault. Eventually, Kai found himself trapped against a wall.
"Damn…I don't have much reiatsu left…Only about five bullets worth…" he grunted "Heh…If this works…That's all I need…" he grunted as Leo approached him. When the Arrancar was close enough, Kai pulled the trigger four more times, aiming for Leo's paws each time. The Lion roared triumphantly as he was within grabbing distance of Kai.
"Oh? You think you've won?" grunted Kai "Heh…Look again. Try and maul me if you can" he said. Leo attempted to lift his paw but found himself unable to do so. Upon looking down he saw that all four of his legs had been frozen from the ground up.
"That's the Ice Shell" explained Kai while Leo frantically tried to break free "It's an unbreakable ice that freezes my opponent. Don't worry, it'll melt quickly…But not fast enough to save you!" he said as he flicked open the chambers of his guns one finl time. This time, only one flame was left ad it was glowing feebly
"I'll pour everything I have left into this last one" said Kai "Reload! Special Bullet: Laser Shell!" he called as the weak blue flame became a single, brightly glowing turquoise blue. He rolled under Leo and aimed the Revolver at his exposed flesh. He pulled the trigger and a laser beam was fired from the gun, piercing Leo's body and finally killing the lion as it pierced his heart. Like Kai promised, he struck Leo's vital point.
The Captain sighed and lay down at the wall where Reed was lieing in rubble
"Whew, he was a tough one." He sighed "Hey…Hey Reed, you conscious?" he asked but got no answer
"…I guess not" he said "Oh well…Something like this wouldn't kill a guy with that much conviction" said Kai "The man who wants to surpass me wouldn't die until he's done just that" he chuckled "But still…These are some tough opponents…I wonder how the others are doing." He asked himself.
To Be Continued…