I must fight

I stand high above

For that is what I love

A Predator Among Us

Falling Stars III

The Cutting Floor

Ouetsu Nimaiya felt good. Defeating an enemy so quickly and with ease brought some weight off his shoulders. Using a Zanpakutō such as Shichi Fukujin always came with a risk of the flow of the battle being taken out of his hands.

But now, with the 11th Division Captain incapacitated, he can finally rejoin the others in finding his Sword Five.

I wonder where they could have hid? There's only so many places someone can hide a Zanpakutō from me…

As he thought to himself, a distant boom was heard. Blinking, he raised a hand to peer ahead, seeing something coming over the horizon.

"Aw shit!" He swore, turning on his heels and dashing away. With arms flailing and legs pumping with his rod in hand, a massive mountain peak descends down into the ground.

Crashing with a land erupting impact.

"Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope!" Nimaiya shouted, dodging a number of debris shotgunned from the ground into the air. His body a whirling blur of evasion, smacking boulder sized fragments into dust with his fishing rod.

Till it gets snatched by a lancing hand.

"Gotcha!" Kenpachi gleefully giggled.

Swinging his arm to slash at Nimaiya's neck, the latter bends backwards in a narrow duck to avoid the swipe.

Twisting the handle of his pole, a glimmer of radiance overlaps the rod causing it to shrink and warp out of Zaraki's grip back into a mace. A meaty thud sounds in connection with the bigger man's jaw, a pommel crashes into the shorter deity's own forehead with a clang.

Amidst the deluge of collapsing earth, the pair exchanged a number of bludgeons, each one blowing further soil away from the other. The crescendo of attacks could be seen in the distance as flashes of thunder, the pair's yellow and golden reiatsu cracking with tendrils of light akin to lightning sprouting out.

The head of Shichi Fukujin whirred around again, faster than before. Nimaiya leaped back from another swipe of Zaraki's sword. Palming the ground in a springing backflip, dropping to a three handed crouch.

Brandishing a four prong blade spear, with a drum shaped pommel, enamored with tomoe at the base with paper talismans wrapped around the stave of the lance.

"Mahākāla, you're up," Nimaiya presents, dashing swiftly towards Kenpachi with both hands on his weapon.

Zaraki met the thrust head-on, his sword crashing into the middle of the circle pattern of blades.

VWOOOOM!

Grinning wildly, Kenpachi felt himself grinding against his heels as an exhale of luminous reiatsu billows from the tips of Nimaiya's spear. Carving a trench into the ruined land, Zaraki stomped a foot behind himself, slowing his drag to a crawl.

Pushing up and twisting the blades away, Kenpachi thrust a hand out to catch Nimaiya's head. Slapping the heel of the palm away, Ouetsu grinned as he spun the drum pommel around to connect with the serrated teeth of his sword.

A deafening roar discharged, a shockwave of sound blasting the long-maned warrior point blank. Disintegrating the upturned crags to dust, it came as a surprise as steam wafted off the enemy Shinigami.

With nary a scratch from the bomb blast of sound.

"Nice try, Guardsman!" Zaraki shouts back, pulling back his foot; crashing it with immense force into his target's chest.

"HNGH!" Ouetsu wheezed out, feeling his ribs quake and his organs rattle from connection.

Thrown away from Kenpachi to tumble head over heels, it took all the Zanpakutō Creator had to right himself, raising his spear in time to block and parry a series of powerful slashes from the jagged katana.

This guy is unreal! Nimaiya thought, driving his spear around in scything motions to counter Zaraki's sword swings. Halting the momentum, Nimaiya fucked under one swing and spun around his drum pommel.

Instead, his blade morphed back to a spinning mace, just before Kenpachi could grasp it.

VRRROOOAAAR!

A massive ring of fire discharges with a slash of another stave shaped weapon. This one possessed the head of a monk stave with rings of flame attached instead of gold.

Shimmering back to a mace and then a spear in a flare of glimmering gems, jutting beneath as he spun around with a jolt of lightning into a rising stroke of Kenpachi's blade as a fan head spear.

Crackling the air, Kenpachi's body smoked, flames ebbing off his head and face down his shoulders yet did little to slow him down.

"Impatient, are we?" He says to himself, his smile somber as he grinds his electric weapon against Kenpachi's. "I've not met a man, woman, hollow or beast that can withstand the chaotic nature of Shichi Fukujin. They like to take turns, you see, and some will forgo their own turn just so their sibling can get a chance."

"So it's a lot of Zanpakutō in one?" Kenpachi asked with a raised brow behind the sparks of his blade against Nimaiya's.

"Yep, seven shards of failed Asauchi made this one of a kind Zanpakutō," Nimaiya chuckles, adjusting his shades with one hand while keeping his weapon grinding against Kenpachi's. "Bishamonten doesn't mind switching quickly, as he's a humble guy despite his boisterous behavior. Benzaiten is impatient by virtue, so she's the one in my hand right now. You already met the serious Mahākāla and the eager Ebisu."

"They each got a name?" Zaraki asks, reaching out to grasp Nimaiya once more.

Slapping his hand away, Nimaiya reverse gripped Kenpachi forward to throw him over his shoulders with a hard thud. Swinging his lightning spear downwards, Zaraki spun away in a whirling blur, dashing back with a rapid series of thrusts.

"Yep, that's the basis of Zanpakutō and everything under the Sun," Nimaiya says casually, dodging each thrust with trails of electricity with every feint. "Whenever an identity is intertwined with yours, having a name gives it a presence. Power, yes, but it's more than that. Every Zanpakutō has a piece of you inside of it. The moment you form a bond, that's when you can see its formal self, the Shikai."

Leaping in a bolt of lightning, Nimaiya shimmered behind Zaraki. Striking out in an arc of shocking light, Kenpachi is thrown across the field of debris over the trench made earlier.

Bouncing off the floor, Kenpachi parried an incoming bolt of lightning with an upward slash of his sword. With a crack, the spear spun around and streaked back to Ouetsu's hand; shimmering back to a spinning mace.

"And just like relationships with people, sometimes we never see who they really are. Opening up takes patience, trust and common interest. Once you harmonize with your Zanpakutō can you glimpse your true potential of their true self; better known as the Bankai."

"Tell me something I don't know," Kenpachi spat, raising his blade to bare at Nimaiya, glaring at him with an intense glow in his eyes. "I don't know if you just enjoy hearing your voice or if it takes forever for you to get serious, but I'm going to die of boredom at this rate."

"Man, Retsu sure found a headstrong one for her successor," Nimaiya groaned out, his mace transforming in another majestic gleam of light.

Brandishing it in front of himself, the handle became a gnarled wooden handle akin to a head of a cane, the body of the blade itself a deep mahogany with metal tipped around itself. Around the guard is a series of fluttering pages with no cover, always circling in a clockwork motion.

"It's time we kick things up a notch, Jurōjin," Nimaiya says quietly.

Saisho no Tsūro, Tsuru Arukkata

In a blink of the eye, Kenpachi saw Nimaiya disappear. Feathers of white trailed the space around him, and a sudden spike of pain erupted with his flesh slashed open across his chest and over one shoulder.

Turning on his heel, he swung his blade through Nimaiya - passing through a fading mirage of fluttering feathers.

The Hell-?

Nimaiya struck his back, the wooden sword cutting a gash through the Haori with a spray of blood. Once again Kenpachi whirls around to attack only to hit an Afterimage.

He must have sped up, or is somehow slipping past me the moment I attack, Kenpachi pondered with a frown.

Another slash, this time shallower than before. Zaraki focused his reiatsu to do what he did before and brace on impact. Cracking against him rather than cutting into his flesh, this lessened the damage and told him where he was being struck.

After the fourth one, he whirled around.

Crunch!

Biting down on the blade before it could slash his neck.

"What-?"

A palpable gong is heard, Kenpachi's blade smashing into what could be described as a resilient surface. With black scales honed at the point of contact, Nimaiya grinned cheekily at Kenpachi.

"Niji Tsūro, Bekkō Kawa," He explains, the jagged teeth grinding against the black scales. "This shell of skin can repel against anything, even metal blades like yours-"

Crimson burst open from his chest, the Zanpakutō Creator feeling a fiery wave of agony tear through his enhanced skin and past his reiatsu infused flesh and bones. Staggering back, Zaraki stared at him with his bloody sword in hand.

"There isn't a thing I can't cut, Guardsman," The 11th Division Captain says coolly. "For that is what it means to be Kenpachi."

"I…see," Nimaiya says with a smile, visibly sweating from the pain. "Should have known better."

Sanji Tsūro, Kenja no Chiyu Sekkyō! Ouetsu mentally chanted, the paper whirling in a blur at his sword's guard as golden script fluttered into the air. Touching his wounds, his flesh mended and his spilled blood returned.

Looks like I'll be stuck with Jurōjin for a while. He never did like giving up his chance to fight once he had it, Nimaiya deduced with a smirk. Which suits me just fine.

Kenpachi Zaraki realizes what his opponent is thinking. Since his weapon has yet to change, it looks to be the one he is stuck with. Of the three stances he's seen, he seems to use a perception blitz, a defensive shell and a healing ability.

None of which he couldn't handle.

Leaning forward, tilting almost to the point of falling, Kenpachi curled his toes along his sandals.

SHFT!

And dashed past Nimaiya in a frightening blur of motion. Even in the instinct of using Jurōjin to move, the rift in space carved by Kenpachi's blade slashed through Nimaiya's middle, only dampened slightly by the scales. Twisting about, he began to parry and slash, leaping up and throwing a kick that was deflected with ease by Zaraki.

Leaving him open to be punched square into the nose with a sickening crunch.

Shades shattered, his body thrown backwards across the distance. Flipping backwards, he clawed the earth, slowing himself enough to see a large shadow lashing down at him in an arc of white.

KOOM!

The hill collapsed where Kenpachi struck, releasing a powerful shockwave that blew back other surrounding trees and soil. A thick pillar of smoke rose up from where Kenpachi stood, Nimaiya holding a new weapon across over his bowed head, his legs crouched down and nearly kneeling into the dirt.

A bō staff with an iron ball at the end of each side. The wood looked plain and ordinary, with handles of dull yellow surrounding the middle of the pole handle. The iron balls has inscribed in bronze with the words 'Humble' and 'Proud' in Kanji each end.

"Hotei, better late than never!" He shouted out.

With a twist on the handles, he swiveled Kenpachi's blade away to the ground. Spinning the staff around to strike him with one ball pommel. Kenpachi raised an arm in reflex to deflect incoming sphere, reiatsu honed around the point of his wrist.

A loud crack followed by a thuum sent Kenpachi flying back uncontrollably.

Back-first, he saw Nimaiya galloping after him, swinging the sphere with another angle at his side. Without realizing it, his body jerked back as if caught by a well of gravity, crushing him by two opposing forces in a visually warping pressure.

Nimaiya hollered with glee, seeing blood spouts from Kenpachi's mouth.

"Take that, you big bast-"

SHINK!

"-ULK!"

Nimaiya's attention had been so fixated on applying crushing force to fold the Shinigami's body into a pretzel that he didn't anticipate the counterattack. A jagged katana stabbed him in the kidneys, grinding through his innards out the other side.

Hoarsely croaking out, he stumbled back, swinging Hotei around to hit Kenpachi in the face. The taller Shinigami ducked, moving forward to ram his own head against the shorter man with a crushing gong. Blood split out of his forehead, a dazed expression crossed over him.

Slicing across his chest with another powerful stroke, blood geysers from Nimaiya's chest. The staff in hand shifted back into the eight faced mace, slowly turning to a name etched in silver.

"Kichijōten," He sighs out raggedly, holding what looked like a golden scepter in his hand with a glowing pink jewel at its edge. "I didn't think I'd get this far and…feel this kind of tension."

"Feel like quitting or something?" Kenpachi asked.

"No," Nimaiya grinned with a blood smeared smile. "It just means you're one tough bastard!"

A beam of light snapped out from the edge of the scepter, measuring the length of a traditional double edged sword, luminous and solid gold texture.

Bending his knees, Nimaiya flickered, moving forward with a swift blur, slamming into Kenpachi's raised sword with a bright flash of pure force. Faster than before, Nimaiya dedicated everything into attacks, striking at Kenpachi before he had the chance for another lethal strike.

Parrying each blow, Zaraki heightened the intensity of his own strikes. Flaring his reiatsu with every blow, the earth around the continued to break, dissolve and scatter in waves of fiery blasts.

The two darted across the land, continuing to pursue each other's lives with every cutting stroke. Grins were exchanged, blood flowed off their bodies and swords snapped tendrils of spirit energy at every connection of steel on steel.

Kenpachi didn't know why he placed a second hand on his Zanpakutō. What he did know is that his excitement was pushed to a fever pitch and he couldn't hold himself back.

Nimaiya's senses told him of the danger a moment too late. Raising his own blade horizontally defend against a diagonal swipe did he realize his error.

SHRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIK!

Light warped in Nimaiya's gaze. The ground beneath his feet split in two, and a torrential uproar of wind, blood and dust. A ripple of air split elliptically, casting across kilometers with the thunderous boom that struck the horizon with its might.

Exhaling vapor as Kenpachi's body ebbed steam, the heat radiating off of himself from the speed of which he moved. His gaze fixed on Nimaiya's body, torn open to see a cavity of dark red with his ribs and guts visible from the outside.

The blade of light has kept him from being cleaved in half, though it appeared to have been a detriment.

"Damn…that was…insane," Nimaiya wheezed out, his lips turning into a blissful smile. "I can't remember the last time…I felt this…alive."

"You're strong, Ouetsu Nimaiya," Kenpachi Zaraki said with mirth, hefting his sword over one shoulder and turning his back to him. "See ya."

"Aren't you going to…finish me off?" Nimaiya asked with a groan.

"I don't cut down the dead," Kenpachi remarked without looking back. "There's no glory in it."

"Ahhh…that's unfortunate."

Zaraki suddenly felt a sudden thump rock his body. Like a heartbeat made physical, it vibrated his being. Turning to cast a wide eyed stare, he saw a thick viscous shadow rising up around Nimaiya's body, the golden mace shining a red veined kanji across every face. His eyes gleamed a golden wheel in place of dark eyes, emphasizing his next proclamation.

"You should have killed me when you had the chance, Kenpachi Zaraki. Now you're going to die."

Bankai

Fukō Kami

Everyone could sense something change in the air.

Amidst the explosions of reishi and clashes of reiatsu, many paused to take in the sudden feeling of threatening presence that erected itself in their domain. It passed over every single being in Soul Society.

From the look of curiosity of Mayuri and Kisuke, to the shock of Officers to the stoic acknowledgement of colleagues and foes alike, everyone in the spirit realm felt it. Beyond even their scope, even Hollows tilted their heads up from Hueco Mundo and humans within Karakura Town stirred awake at the sensation.

A tension rose up across all living beings. It is like dread, a cold icy chill flowing across every person with the feeling of something clenching around the throat.

This unmistakable reiatsu had even reached the highest of peaks to the Reiōkyū.

The Quincy felt this chill, unaware of why it was there nor where it came from.

But, the Reiō knew.

So, this is the True Power of a Royal Guard, sealed away by Oshou? Aaroniero queries as she opens cross shaped white eyes, glimmering within amethyst quarters.

A smile spread across her face, knowing full well the battle that is taking place.

"That's the power you should have used against me, Nimaiya," She mused, leaning back in her throne, her grin toothy as she laughed to herself. "I wonder if this battle will break the three realms for me? Let me see with eyes shut, so I can be surprised!"

Fear.

It's an emotion that Kenpachi had never experienced in his entire life. From the time he picked up a sword to the many times he crossed blades with an opponent, he never felt like he should be afraid even when death is a possibility.

But this alien feeling he is experiencing happened when he witnessed what had emerged after Ouetsu Nimaiya's words left his lips. A darkness spread from the once glamorous mace, consuming the Royal Guardsman and overtaking him in a phenomenon incapable of being put to words.

To put simply, one could describe the transformation of Nimaiya's form as the birth of a God; or an entire world of darkness being formed in the shape of a person.

Stretching out of the darkness, thick black reiatsu dropped to the floor like blood, spreading across the ground. Everything it touched wilted, drained of life and fizzled away, stretching out to the outskirts of the Rukongai District nearest to them; burning away structures and killing animals that hadn't fled in time to escape its lethal clutches.

It circled around Kenpachi's footing, his own reiatsu passively keeping the sickly excess from touching him.

The blackness became a solid sphere, ceasing its ebbing of darkness. Cracking like an egg, the orb shattered-

THUUM!

Releasing a palpable shockwave that forced the Captain to shield his face, the blast of reiatsu shoving him back while upheaving the black reiatsu. Zaraki regained his footing, looking up as the ocean of reiatsu flowed upwards, flowing around to blot out the sky above his head with its sheer mass.

A breath brought his gaze back to just ahead, bringing his eyes to widen at what he saw.

Sickly pale with sharp features from chin to jawline, possessing dark circles around the eyes, black hair worn long in a smooth mane with it divided in six tassels of red bands, a necklace of seven tomoe rests from his neck. His build is youthful yet toned, his musculature showing a perfect frame fit for battle. From the waist down lie a white triage of silk, a violet rope obi fastened above a blood red hakama, leading to a pair of golden brace wrapped bare feet - currently floating off the ground, crossed over one another.

His eyes bore a cold stare, a pair of golden wheels in pitch blackness fixed on Kenpachi with a golden rope wrapped about his own head.

"It's been five thousand years since Nimaiya called upon my power. Or has it been ten? I've lost count," He says aloud, his voice lithe and musical sounding, belying his audibly detached demeanor.

Leaning his head to his left palm, he pointed a finger at Kenpachi's stunned face. "Are you my enemy?"

The sword rattles in Zaraki's hand, shaking him out of his daze. He could feel the excitement hiw sword had at facing such a monster in battle.

Smiling past the sweat sloughing off his brow, the Shinigami raised his blade at the Zanpakutō manifestation.

"My name is Kenpachi Zaraki," He said with a smirk. "And you're my enemy!"

In a blur, Zaraki charged at his foe. A blur of yellow streaked behind him, a line of luminous gold racing straight into the hovering Zanpakutō.

Whirling away from the jab, Kokō Kami spins around perpendicularly to the Captain, the toe of his right foot arching into the Shinigami's head.

The moment of contact of the toe to his jaw, he felt it.

A torrential force condensed into a single point, colliding into a small point on his face and then…

Exploding.

KOOOOOM!

Blasting out of several layers of dispersing air waves, Kenpachi Zaraki spiraled away from the site of the Seireitei's outskirts. Cleaving through vast forests, vast valleys and across mountain ranges, the Shinigami's vision spun as much as his body did across the immense realm.

Slashing his sword, he chaotically carved the environment he flew past, carving up a sea, a mountain and several hills as he went past. After failing to miss the mark after several seconds, Kenpachi's blade finally thrusts into the floor. Cracking the earth below, Zaraki regains his footing and slows himself to a crawl.

Falling to the ground with a tap of his sandaled feet, he eyes the horizon; a jagged scar thay curved over the distance, with no Seireitei in sight beyond the black firmament that covered the sky over his head.

Damn, he hit me good just now, Zaraki thinks, reaching into his mouth and ripping out a pulverized tooth. Looking around at his surroundings, noting how cold it felt with evergreen pines dotting the area along with rushing streams and brooks surrounding him. Shit…I don't even know how far away I was sent. This Bankai sure packs a punch.

"You're sturdier than I thought."

Kenpachi didn't even deign that with a response.

Retaliating with a whirling slash at the voice behind him came a sparking clang. A raised hand deflected the jagged teeth, a black glow emanating from the heel of the Zanpakutō's palm wreathed the appendage in reiatsu.

Stepping forward, Kokō Kami pulled a hand back while muttering a word under his breath.

"Raikō."

On pure instinct did Kenpachi's body move to evade. Rotating a ninety degree turn from the ball of his heel, Zaraki witnessed a flash of light that flashed in the air-

Krak-KOOM!

Exploding outwards in a forward funnel of shocking energy. Thrown off his heels as he felt a wave of numbness cascade his nerves, his eyes blanched and his hearing ringed from the sound.

The Zanpakutō faces him, even as he staggers back from the earlier attack. Raising his right hand up above his own head, Kokō Kami mutters another word as he brings it down.

"Kaze."

A mighty crack is heard, space seemingly to distort in a warp of the heavens launching an instantaneous downward collision into the Captain's body. Even as the land cracked and shook from the resulting gale force shockwave from the impact - something akin to a Microburst in the Living World - Zaraki managed to erupt from the ground in a steaming arch of movement.

Clapping his hands above his head, Kokō Kami caught the two handed swing of Kenpachi's blade.

Inhaling deeply, the Zanpakutō pinched his lips and puffed up his chest up to his cheeks. Unable to get his sword free, the Captain beheld a sudden burst of liquid enter his gaze.

VWHOOOOOSH!

Crashing into him with insurmountable force, a bellowing breadth of water blew the Shinigami away into the horizon. Colliding against hills and fields of trees and brush, the mass of liquid tore apart all of nature within this distant part of Soul Society. Flowing out as thick and deep as a wrathful sea, Zaraki regained his balance as he burst from the depths to the surface using his innate reiatsu.

Blood seeped from his forehead, his chest bruised and his previous wounds bled from the destructive tempest he took at point blank. Breathing heavily, he tried to get a feel where his adversary is now.

It didn't take long for him to look up, seeing a looming silhouette covered by an even larger shadow. Emerging from the firmament of darkness in the sky came a perfect sphere of rock.

"Is that…a meteor?" Kenpachi asked himself, dumbfounded at what he is seeing.

"Withstanding so many calamities, one after the other, proves how ineffective my siblings were against you," The Zanpakutō says aloud, somehow able to be heard despite the drastic distance from the two. "I ensured to place a sea here to soak up the impact to prevent further damage done to Soul Society. Prepare to meet your end, Kenpachi Zaraki!"

Kenpachi's smile broadened.

A loud, raucous laugh roared from him, body shaking with excitement. The sea shook, the ground quakes and even as the massive sphere rushed down towards the sea, what makes it flow out is the sheer rise of reiatsu.

"I've never cut something that big before!" He yelled out, pulling his sword back and bending his knees. "Let's do this!"

His body aglow with golden light, shot straight into the sky, leaving an elliptical ring of dry earth behind as tidal waves flew from his site of launch. Making contact with the meteor, Kenpachi Zaraki swung his sword as he let out a gleeful cry.

Drink,

Nozarashi!

Cut in two, the enormous sphere detonates, flashing flames with large debris raining across the sea engulfed land. Watery blooms of impact dot the earth below, like macabre flowers in a field of a marshy brook.

The Zanpakutō stared at Kenpachi's Zanpakutō with alarm. What he had believed to be the released state of the sword had been sealed this whole time!

Gone is the jagged teeth of a chipped katana. Now it was a massive cleaver, a smooth bore edge with the blade easily being larger than the already large Shinigami Captain. With tassles running from the back corner and bandages wrapped around the pole handle, Zaraki held the behemoth blade in one hand.

And then swung it.

Raising a hand coated in his reiatsu, he felt the unmistakable white hot pain flash across his right side.

Possessing a blanching expression, he looked over at his right, seeing from the shoulder down to his leg became severed in a clean cut. Even the bent raised hand had been cut down, severed in several pieces in its raking over himself.

"It seems like the tables have turned, Kokō Kami," Kenpachi sneered with a smile.

All while the Zanpakutō narrowed a dry stare at him.

"The tables turned? I'm not familiar with that phrase," The Zanpakutō says, narrowing his eyes at the Shinigami. "Are you suggesting that because you have wounded me that you are superior to me?"

"From what it looks like, yeah," Zaraki says back.

A smile spread across the Zanpakutō's youthful face, raising his left clenched hand with his index finger wrapped around the middle one.

Space shifted, the air swirled and black energy swept up and around the space where his wounds were. From the fingers and toes, they sparked back into existence, winding back to the spot of the cut, showing no sign of injury or even blood that was shed.

"Fukō no Gyakuten," The Zanpakutō says, clenching his restored right hand up at the Captain for emphasis. "Do you still feel superior, Kenpachi Zaraki? I reversed the misfortune that befell me, and restored my body to what it was. No attack of yours, however powerful it is, won't undo me."

Kenpachi scoffed.

"You regenerated your arm? Big deal," Zaraki snarked, hefting his massive cleaver up over his shoulder. "That just means I have to aim for your head or heart."

The Zanpakutō smirked.

"I won't be so sure," He said.

Lifting up his hand, the firmament of darkness shuddered, gathering together into a massive sphere above his head. It dwarfed the landscape below, an order of magnitude larger than the meteor that made Kenpachi stare up at it.

Swirling around like a churning liquid it began to pool into the palm, seeping into the skin and branding the whole body around him. Patterns of black marked his pale skin, showing ringed circles around the palms and knuckles with solid thick lines running over the top and bottom of the arms, spreading to create a network of circles over the back and shoulders; all of it pooling into a series of Kanji inscribed rings forming a spiral pattern at the stomach.

"Karmic Art," The Zanpakutō says with an exhale, the clear blue sky now enveloped in a miasmic haze. With arms spread out with open palms, his foe could see black kanji words clearly stating "Agony" and "Suffering" below each golden wheeled eye. "Temple of Disaster."

His reiatsu feels compressed, Kenpachi thought, narrowing his eyes at the Zanpakutō. It must be to keep me from cutting him. It doesn't matter, though…

Clapping his hands together, Kokō Kami spread them apart revealing a pure black stave with a flame symbol sphere at the end.

Composed of the same super compressed reiatsu, Kenpachi could tell this weapon is a highly durable one.

Both warriors took a stance.

Kenpachi raised his sword in front of himself, one foot in front of the other, both hands on the handle.

Kokō Kami raised his hammer up at an angle, his own foot placed forward.

Their eyes locked at one another, unflinching and focused on the battle that is yet to be renewed. Their breaths slow, their heartbeats steady, muscles tensing and relaxing.

Then, the two shunted space, evaporating from view.

Thunder echoed the sky, crashing into the ground and blowing back the sea engulfed land around them.

Reiatsu sparked out, tendrils of reishi lashing out and tearing apart entire standing formations as high as mountains. The pair fought in a way that is beyond comprehension as well as purely simple.

Kokō Kami cracked his stave against the behemoth blade, watching it warp and bend against the enormous weapon. Pressing against it, he shoved up the sword and spun around to kick at Zaraki's exposed waist.

Cracking the air, the heel met a rising knee. A downward stroke of his blade caught the stave and collided into the Zanpakutō's unprotected shoulder.

Blood spurted out from the slash, though it looked to be shallow. Held up from cutting any farther, the Zanpakutō's face turned into a smirk at Kenpachi.

A single breath, a flash of light and a piercing hole is drilled through the Captain's chest. Zaraki's eyes glazed over, his mouth spewing blood as his sword lessened over the stave and shoulder of the Bankai manifested Spirit.

"You fought well," Kokō Kami says with a sigh, turning the sword away with his stave as he gazes at his limp body leaning backwards. "But it's time to rest, warrior."

Raising his stave, he swung down to smash his head. A loud gong filled the sky, reverberating for miles around.

"Rest? I'm far from sleepy, Zanpakutō," Kenpachi jeered, his left hand catching the ball end of the stave mere inches away from his own face.

In a stroke of black and white, a look of alarm crosses over the Bankai's face. Gazing to his left he'd see his left side eviscerated, cut down to near complete severance from the shoulder down to the hip.

Clenching his teeth, Kokō Kami's grip on his stave tightened. The ball end of the stave in Kenpachi's grip lit up in a luminous glow of golden white.

And then exploded.

KOOOOM!

As if a star detonated, the heavens lit up with an enormous wellspring of flames at the point of impact. Throttled across the space, Kenpachi's uniform in tatters and his skin darkened from the fiery blast.

His vision was dizzy, his hearing ringing from the blast. Eyes widened as he saw another flash of light.

SHING!

One he cut in half, leaving the ground behind pierced by a forked blast of lightning.

Dashing back at his target, he swung aggressively at the Zanpakutō with his blade. The stave parried it, and though he felt his wounds lessened the force of his strike, the injury left unattended by the possessed guardsman also stifled his own strength.

Clanging with every parry, Kenpachi's strikes moved ferociously at his target, unrelenting in its pursuit for more blood. Concussive waves billowed the heavens, their clashing reiatsu quaking sea and land far beyond their perception.

Although none realized it, cracks began to form along the base of the Seireitei's walls.

Somewhere, along the way, Kokō Kami's grip slipped. The stave grinded aside rather than against a downward cleaving stroke.

Crunching, the butcher blade bisected the wound from before in a gory spray of ichor that stained them both. Even as he felt his left side to the hip fly off, he spun the globe tipped stave to strike at Zaraki's burned face.

KOOOOM!

Another palpable explosion sundered the sky, cracking the floor below and vaporizing the sea with its intense heat. Kenpachi is throttled across the sky far away into the steaming floor in the distance, the Zanpakutō grimaced with sweating effort.

Not since that Hollow have I suffered such wounds, Kokō Kami thought with a pained expression, turning his attention to his cleaved side. I've got to reverse this damage. I don't know how long a blast like that will hold him off!

Crossing his index across his middle finger, the wounds and his damaged uniform began to reverse the maiming it took.

whiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrr!

That sound?!

Turning to look at the horizon he beheld something that made his heart skip a beat. From the tallest of highs to the floor came a space warping disc of spinning, cutting force.

I can't predict its trajectory! I have to parry it!

"Three Fold Calamity Stroke!" Kokō Kami yelled out, taking his partially restored arm and his right, pulling the air behind him like stretching fabric. Crackling with electricity and flame, he arched his stave around along with an entire horizon's mass of destructive energy to meet the spinning blade at its center.

Colliding against one another, the effect was instantaneous. Colors peeled away, unveiling a monochrome of light bursting at the zero point of contact. His stave, along with the bulwark of its energy became severed in a pure cut down the middle. He didn't feel pain, even as half of his body was severed along with the stave he used to challenge the attack.

He turned his head, just in time to see the butcher blade halt its momentum with a forceful stomp in the air. Zaraki looked less like a Shinigami and more of a leering beast, whose eyes shone with a blank glare over his scorched shoulder.

Twisting around he brought his jagged stave around to slash at Kenpachi's Zanpakutō, just as his foe did the same. Without a word exchanged he felt his eyes widened with tension. The thrill of battle had long since eluded him, with only one exception in the entire history of his use.

Yet, feeling the blade of Nozarashi pass through his weapon and carve through him, he felt a new sensation of nirvana flow through his mind and body.

Ahhhh. So this is what it feels like…lose…

A smile spreads across his face, eyes closing as they separated down the mide. The rest of his body split apart, a crimson spray flowing out as color returned to the world around the two.

Landing with a meaty thud to the ground, Zaraki also landed next to it with a tap. His vision swam, his hearing muffled and from what he could feel, he had internal damage as much as exterior.

"Damn, that fight knocked the wind out of me," He graveled out, turning to admonish the Zanpakutō he slew

Instead, he saw the two halves of the Royal Guard, with a black blade clutching in his right hand.

"You both were strong, take pride in that," Zaraki says with a smile. "I had a lot of fun."

Clap.

Clap.

Clap.

Kenpachi turns his head, seeing a familiar face attached to the clapping hands.

"Well done, Captain Zaraki," Gin says with his trademark grin, his hands slowly clapping as he approaches the battle damaged Shinigami with no signs of wear on himself. "I figured of all the ones in the Gotei 13, you had the best chance of winning against a Royal Guard. But when he used that Bankai, I almost believed the worst happened to you."

"Ichimaru…" Zaraki sneered with contempt, his sword gripped tightly in his hand. "What's a snake like you doing here? Come to kill me now that I'm wounded?"

Walking up to the Captain, Gin didn't bat an eye at his visible signs of threat. Instead he continued casually traipsing up to Nimaiya's corpse.

Standing over it, the man muttered something the deafened Captain couldn't hear.

A pair of rings flowed out from his hands, latching onto both halves of the Guardsman's body, enveloping them in a warm, soft light of golden hue. Dispersing away in an instant the body is displaced from where it lied.

Leaving the two alone.

"He's back in the Reiōkyū to revive," He explains, turning to look over at the wounded Captain. "That's my role. I'm here to observe and to ensure their remains return to the Palace. Everything else is just a bonus."

"Peh!" Kenpachi spat, eyes still glaring ahead at him. "I don't give a damn what your orders are, or that you betrayed the Gotei 13 and the Soul Society. I've wanted to kill you since I first laid eyes on you."

"Really? Because I respect you, Captain Zaraki," Gin says, crossing his arms over his chest with both sleeves covering his hands. "Your pure desire for strength and killing is what makes you a supreme fighter. It's a danger that even Aaroniero acknowledges."

Kepachi narrowed his eyes on him. Apart from barely being able to hear what is being said, it was clear enough he could make out from the movements of his lips.

"Let's say, hypothetically, there is a weakness to exploit. One that not even the Reiō can dismiss. Is it worth any price to seize your chance at killing God?" He asks.

"Are you saying," Kenpachi began to say, his eyes widening as the gears turned in his head. "You want me to kill Aaroniero?"

It was during the split instant that a flash of light lanced through Kenpachi's chest. His eyes bulged, mouth vomiting blood and his body staggered forward while clutching his injury.

"I wasn't talking about the Reiō," Gin says with a toothy grin, blue eyes gleaming with malice at Kenpachi. "That's your fault for not reading between the lines."

A wrathful arc of steel sliced the ground as the Shinigami aimed for Gin's spot.

Fizzling away like a mirage, Gin appeared next to Zaraki. The Captain whirled around to strike him, whiffing the air as Gin leaped up with knees tucked into his chest.

Another slash across his neck, though this was shallow as Zaraki stepped back at the last instant the blade made contact.

Swinging the massive blade by the blunt side like a club, Gin flipped backwards, the air roaring from the air pressure alone from the swing.

In mid-flip, Gin twisted around, slicing the horizon to smash into Kenpachi's Zanpakutō in a loud crack of sparking metal.

Wounded, Zaraki felt himself staggered by the surprising whip of steel. When the blade seemed to disappear as Gin landed on the ground, Zaraki dashed forward to slash diagonally down at Gin.

Another painful slash across his stomach transpired, his own blade smashing into the ground with frightening force yet missing its quarry by a hair.

"My my, you're losing an awful amount of blood, Captain," Gin remarks playfully from behind. "How much more can you lose?"

Zaraki swung around, Gin ducking from the air slicing slash.

Appearing in front of Zaraki in a crouch, the latter took a step back to cut him down. Rising up in a streak of white, an arc of gray slashes up along his chest and across his neck.

A spray of blood gushed from Kenpachi's wounds, his eyes blanched wide with his mouth agape.

Falling to his knees, Zaraki fell to his hands and knees. His vision blurred, the ringing in his vision still present and muffled anything Gin was saying. The wounds being inflicted are deep and nothing he can ignore with the amount of blood loss and reiatsu he had burned in his earlier battle.

"It looks like this is the end, Captain Zaraki," Gin says with a sigh, smirking as he stood more than ten meters away. "I commend you for moving as well as you have, even after suffering so much damage. But even you have limits, and no one can fault you for that. "

Dammit, body. Why are you getting sloppy right now?! He thought angrily. Ichimaru shouldn't get the best of me! I gotta move! Do you hear me, body? MOVE!

Gin took aim with his blade and extended it.

Arcing through the air, Kenpachi's vision could make out the razor tip racing straight towards his head.

Sparks flare out, as something connects.

Sparkling petals flow around Kenpachi's vision, instantly informing him who is responsible.

"Captain Kuchiki," Gin says with a wry smirk. Turning to look to his left, he saw the Shinigami holding his bladeless hilt, his body and uniform devoid of any damage. Not even a scratch to the coat of his Haori. "What are you doing here? Didn't you have an opponent already?"

"I already dealt justice out to the traitor," Byakuya says coolly, eyes coldly staring at him. "I suggest you leave while you still can."

"Hmm," Gin hummed, retracting his blade with a click. "I don't think Aaroniero would like me allowing you to walk away unscathed."

"I see," Byakuya says, reforming his Sealed katana, raising it up to be held by both hands. "If she is watching, shall I perform for her? I want her to see how I will be taking her life, Gin Ichimaru."

—

A/N: Happy Halloween everyone! I know I'm a little late but since this never had a spooky theme, I think you all can forgive me.

This fight went under major revisions. I originally had some of this fight take place in the previous chapter, I even had the circumstances and appearance of the Bankai altered. But I think I reached a satisfying conclusion and the fight itself is as bombastic as I hoped it would be.

With Byakuya performing perfectly against Kirinji, it looks like Gin has to face off against the wrath of the Kuchiki Clan Chief. With two remaining Guards left, will our other heroes perform just as well, or will there be a turn for the worst?

See you all in the next update!