"Can you repeat that? Do you want us to fight?" asked Ichigo still confused by the question asked by the human slime.
"Yes. I'm really curious how you employ your skills with that reiryoku of yours." said Rimuru.
"And would we have to fight… *gasp* against you?" asked Orihime nervously, since, knowing how powerful he could be, it wouldn't be an easy fight, but one in which they might lose in the first moment.
"No. I'd rather see it than experience it, and it doesn't have to be all of you. Three of you fighting will suffice." said Rimuru.
"In that case, we will gladly fight for you, Lord Rimuru." said Rukia bowing in respect.
"Not exactly that, but thank you." said Rimuru.
Later, the group had followed Rimuru to a training area.
"So, who are we fighting?" asked Chad.
"They shouldn't be long in coming." said Rimuru.
"When did you ha…" began Renji wondering at what point he called them until he remembered something. "Oh, right. You spoke to them telepathically."
"Yes, I did the moment we left." said Rimuru.
It was then that the group sensed something and turned their heads to the side.
"Looks like they've already arrived." said Uryu.
At that moment three people appeared.
One was a red-haired man in red clothing with two horns on his head, another was a dark blue haired man with a horn on his head and the third was a very old man with two small horns on his head.
"We have come as you requested, Lord Rimuru." said the older horned man.
"I am glad. Guys, I present to you your opponents. Benimaru." began Rimuru pointing to the red-haired man. "Souei." said Rimuru pointing to the blue haired man. "And Hakuro." finished Rimuru pointing to the older man.
"I-It's a pleasure to meet you." said Orihime bowing in a respectful manner.
"Likewise." said Souei.
"Lord Rimuru said you have interesting skills. I'm looking forward to checking if that's really true." said Benimaru with a toothy smile of excitement.
"In that case, Benimaru, you will be the first to fight." said Rimuru.
"As you wish." said Benimaru.
"Which one of you will fight him?" asked Rimuru.
The six looked at each other, visually debating who would participate in the first bout.
After a couple of seconds, they made their decision.
"I volunteer, Lord Rimuru." said Renji with a raised hand.
"Very well. Please go to the combat zone" said Rimuru.
As Benimaru went to take his place, Renji was about to do so until Rukia grabbed him by the sleeve of his kimono, causing him to turn his gaze towards her.
"Be careful, Renji. He's clearly not an opponent to underestimate." said Rukia.
"Yes, I can sense that he has enormous power plus he looks like a combat expert, so don't let your guard down." said Ichigo.
"Understood." said Renji before going to his place, taking the other side from the one Benimaru had taken.
"You may begin." said Rimuru giving the signal to start.
Both combatants drew their swords and while Renji took a fighting and defensive stance, Benimaru was completely at ease.
"Since you are the first, I will let you strike the first blow. Attack me without contemplation." said Benimaru with a smile.
Renji thought for a moment that it might be a bluff, but in the end, he dismissed the idea and used shunpo to quickly disappear, taking Benimaru by surprise.
In the next instant, Renji appeared at his side to try to strike him with his sword, but Benimaru raised his own to block the attack before pushing the vice-captain back.
"How did he move so fast?" asked Rimuru.
"That was shunpo, a fast-moving technique we shinigami use to move faster than the normal eye." explained Rukia.
"And only shinigami can use that?" asked Rimuru.
"Not exactly. We quincy also have our own fast-moving technique, but we call it hirenkyaku." said Uryu.
"Mmm. Interesting." said Rimuru returning his gaze to the fight.
For a while, Renji was using shunpo to move back and forth and try to attack Benimaru, but the red-haired kijin was able to block and dodge all the attacks without any problem.
"Alright. Your turn is over. Now it's my turn." said Benimaru before dashing at full speed towards the vice-captain, who was taken aback by his opponent's speed.
Benimaru launched his sword attack, but Renji blocked the attack with his own, though he ended up sliding backwards due to the force of the blow.
After he recovered, both he and Benimaru lunged at each other and began to fight with their swords, hitting each other while dodging and blocking them, although Renji had a bit of a hard time due to the red-haired kijin's strength and speed.
They both clashed their swords once more and were pushing each other before Benimaru kicked him in the chest that pushed him back.
"Come on. Is that all you've got? I told you to attack me unceremoniously. I'm starting to disappoint you." said Benimaru.
"If that's how you feel, then I'll make you feel the opposite." began Renji placing his sword in front of him. "Roar, Zabimaru!" shouted Renji running his hand across the blade of the sword, causing it to transform into a machete split into 6 fragments with tips sticking out like fangs.
Needless to say, that surprised both Rimuru and the three kijin.
"What was that he did with his sword?" asked Rimuru being very curious.
"That wasn't a normal sword. But a zanpakuto." said Rukia.
"Zanpakuto?" asked Rimuru.
"Zanpakuto are the personal weapon of shinigami, as well as the manifestation of a shinigami's soul." explained Rukia.
"And what was that you did with your zanpakuto?" asked Rimuru.
"Even though they are a part of us, zanpakuto harbor their own spirit. When you learn the name of that spirit, as well as the name of your weapon, you unlock the shikai, the first form of a zanpakuto" said Ichigo.
"And what is the second?" asked Rimuru.
"It's about the bankai that allows you to use the full power of the zanpakuto. You can only unlock it by defeating the zanpakuto spirit itself in a match or a test, which allows you to use its full power." said Ichigo recalling the test he had to pass to unlock his bankai in a short time.
"Currently, only a few have been able to do it, among them, the captains of divisions and some others like Renji's case." said Rukia.
"Raphael, analyze that sword." thought Rimuru staring at Renji's zanpakuto.
"Analysis." began Raphael analyzing the sword. "Detected a spiritual life form inside the weapon."
Rimuru was completely fascinated by it.
It was one thing to be objects that harbored magic, another to be spirits inhabiting human bodies as with Shizue and the children, but he had never heard of weapons with a spirit inside forged through someone's soul.
In fact, he could sense that Renji's power had increased quite a bit when he released his zanpakuto, which made him realize two things.
One that this increase in power depended on the relationship between the shinigami and the spirit of his zanpakuto and another that, if he had that power with just the shikai, his power would be much greater if he used the bankai.
And Renji was a vice-captain, which meant that the captains must be stronger even with their weapon in the first form.
Really shinigami were impressive and powerful if they had all that variety of skills.
At that moment, Benimaru stopped being surprised and flashed a toothy grin.
"Now that's what I was talking about. Since you showed me yours, I'll show you mine." said Benimaru before shooting from his other hand a blast of black fire.
Renji was taken aback by it, but luckily he was able to use shunpo to dodge the swift attack.
"Was that… black fire?" asked Renji in his mind, as he had never seen fire like that before.
Not only him, but the others were also surprised by it, as there was only one person they knew who had fire powers, but not with flames like that.
"Allow me to introduce myself fully. My name is Benimaru." began Benimaru before wrapping his sword in black flames. "And I am the commander-in-chief of the Rimuru Tempest forces."
That made Renji nervous, for his opponent had a rank that could be compared to that of a captain of division, not to mention his black fire that was now mixed with his sword.
A very small part of him was telling him to surrender, but he cast that part aside, for he wouldn't be a vice-captain if he gave up so easily.
No matter who he would be up against, whether it was that red-haired kijin, an arrancar or even Byakuya or Genryusai, he would fight with all his might.
"What say you, shall we continue?" asked Benimaru pointing his flaming sword at him.
"I wouldn't be a vice-captain of division if I didn't, so… go ahead." said Renji pointing his zanpakuto at him.
"Heh. Well said. You better not take it back." said Benimaru before suddenly disappearing.
Renji quickly stepped to the side to avoid a slash from Benimaru's flaming sword and then, Renji swung his sword at him, but blocked it with his own sword.
After stepping aside, Benimaru launched a blast of black fire, but Renji jumped to the side to avoid it, although, due to how fast the attack was going, it almost grazed him, which allowed Renji to feel immense heat from that fire, giving him a warning that it would end very badly if he were to receive those flames all at once.
It was then that Renji swung his sword, causing it to elongate like a snake before sending it towards Benimaru, who used his sword to repel it, but then, with a jerk, Renji brought the whip sword back quickly.
Benimaru turned his head slightly to notice the tip of the first shard coming dangerously close to him, so he had to duck to the side to avoid it.
Renji whipped his whip sword back and forth in an attempt to strike him, but Benimaru moved quickly to repel each attack with his flaming sword.
Benimaru lunged towards him in an attempt to slash him with his flaming sword, but Renji used shunpo to dodge him, appearing soon after behind him and high in the air, from where he swung his whip sword.
However, Benimaru was able to foresee it and easily dodged it before disappearing and then appearing in front of Renji in mid-air.
Before he could react, Benimaru kicked him in the chest that sent him crashing hard to the ground.
Renji was about to get up, but then, he saw Benimaru's flaming sword just inches from his throat, being able to fully feel the heat of the black fire.
"That's enough." said Rimuru ending the fight.
At his lord's announcement, Benimaru extinguished the flames on his sword before sheathing it.
"You haven't done all bad. Next time, go all out or else you won't really improve." said Benimaru.
Renji's eyes widened at the red-haired kijin's compliment and advice.
For a moment, he saw his captain, Byakuya Kuchiki, instead of Benimaru.
That caused a feeling of respect to form inside the vice-captain.
After that, Renji stood up and bowed in respect.
"Thank you. I won't forget it." said Renji.
"You'd better. It would be a bummer the next fight we had." said Benimaru before walking away.
Renji followed him and the two returned to the others.
"Now, who should fight now?" asked Rimuru with his hand on his chin as he stopped to think.
"If you allow me, Lord Rimuru, I would like to fight next." said Uryu.
"I allow it. Souei, would you like to be next?" asked Rimuru.
"If that's what you want, so be it." said Souei.
With nothing more to say, the two stood on their corresponding sides.
"Would you mind telling me who you really are." began Uryu as he drew his bow. "I'd rather save any kind of conversation during the fight."
"That's a good idea. My name is Souei and I lead the Shadow Squad." said Souei.
"Shadow Squad?" asked Chad with confusion.
"It's a group in charge of intelligence gathering, espionage, infiltration and assassination." explained Rimuru.
"Put that way, it sounds like a ninja group." commented Orihime.
"Now I wonder what kind of skills that guy possesses." said Ichigo.
Both Uryu and Souei got into fighting stance, waiting for the signal.
"Begin." said Rimuru starting the fight.
Souei was the first to attack as he quickly charged towards the quincy while drawing his swords.
Uryu reacted quickly and started shooting energy arrows at full speed, but Souei was able to dodge and block any incoming arrows with his swords.
"Mmm. I know he said they used reiryoku for long distance attacks, but I didn't expect it to be that way." thought Rimuru.
Uryu kept shooting arrows as Souei continued to advance towards him until he ended up in front of him.
Just as he was about to hit him with his swords, Uryu used hirenkyaku to quickly escape, appearing the next instant in another part of the field from where he started shooting more arrows.
Souei ran to the side, causing the arrows to strike behind him as he followed.
It was then that he threw one of his swords straight at him, but Uryu noticed it in time and threw his head to the side, although the sword cut a few hairs.
That caused him to lose his concentration for a second, enough time for Souei to lunge at him with his remaining sword.
Just as he was about to stab him, Uryu jumped high and stood in mid-air, as if he was standing on an invisible platform.
"How could he stand in mid-air?" asked Rimuru.
"Both quincy and shinigami and fullbringer have the ability to manipulate reishi in such a way that we can walk on air and float." explained Chad.
"Reishi?" asked Rimuru.
"It's the main component of everything spiritual, from ourselves to the Soul Society. Surely there must be some reishi around here or something similar that would allow Uryu to be able to do that." said Rukia.
"Hmm. I wonder if we could do something like that too." thought Rimuru imagining him and his subordinates using a similar technique to move through the air like birds.
"Warning. That would require a great deal of concentration of the magiculas in the area as well as the ability to manipulate." said Raphael.
"Well, it's a possibility then." thought Rimuru being positive about it.
From his elevated position, Uryu began to shoot arrows in such a way that it looked like a rain, forcing Souei to move quickly back and forth to dodge while using his arrow to block some of them.
Seeing that he couldn't escape the shooting range, Souei acted immediately and created several clones of himself, much to the quincy's surprise.
While half of the clones were taking care of the arrows, the others jumped to head towards Uryu, who tried to stop them with his arrows, but they defended themselves with their swords.
By the time they reached him, they tried to hit him with their swords, but Uryu moved to the side to avoid them.
However, the real Souei appeared behind him and tried to slash him with his sword, but Uryu realized this and quickly turned around to use his bow as a shield, although the force of the attack brought him down a bit.
Fortunately, Uryu was able to maneuver properly and land safely on his feet, but, before he could react, he felt several threads tangling around his arms, legs and neck, restricting his movements completely.
He tried to free himself, but the threads were very strong, as well as very sharp, so if he moved too much, he would end up cutting himself and dying.
Before he could think of any escape plan, he felt a sword just inches from his neck courtesy of Souei who was standing behind him like an expert assassin.
That was enough for the quincy to understand that he had no chance of escape.
"I admit defeat." said Uryu with his eyes closed.
"In that case, the fight is over." said Rimuru.
After that, Souei moved his sword away from the quincy's neck and undid his strings, freeing him in the process.
"You are more skilled than I imagined." said Souei.
"I could tell you the same thing, but just know, had it been a real fight, I would have been serious." said Uryu.
"Likewise. You would have even ended up dead if I had done it in this match." said Souei.
With all said and done, the two returned to the others.
"Well, there's only one match left to do. Hakuro, since you're the last, I'll leave you the right to choose your opponent." said Rimuru.
"Thank you, Lord Rimuru." began Hakuro before turning his gaze to the group, visually analyzing them to make his decision. "You." said Hakuro pointing to Ichigo. "You will be my opponent. Let's go." said Hakuro before heading to the combat zone.
Without a word, Ichigo followed the older kijin to the combat zone, with each opponent in their corresponding place.
"May I know why you chose me?" asked Ichigo curiously.
"Simple. Out of all of them, I could sense that you had the most power and abilities and I wanted to check it out in person. Also, I could tell from your look that you longed to fight against me." said Hakuro.
Ichigo didn't want to admit it, but he had always had a taste for fighting the strongest, something he had to admit when he had his final fight against Grimmjow.
He didn't like fighting strong precisely because he really liked it, but because he saw it as necessary to become stronger so he could protect his loved ones, like he did with Orihime at the time.
His opponent may have been older than the others, but he could sense that he was much stronger than he looked, so he drew his sword and prepared to fight.
"Very well. Show me what you can do, old man." said Ichigo with a small smile.
"Oh, gosh. You had to say that." said Rimuru patting his face.
"What do you mean?" asked Orihime.
"Let's just say there's a word you can't say in front of him and about him." said Rimuru.
Hakuro gave the substitute shinigami a smile with closed eyes, as if nothing bad happened and then, he suddenly disappeared.
Ichigo sensed something very bad incoming and quickly ducked back, narrowly avoiding a sword strike that passed inches from his nose.
As soon as the sword flew away from him, he jumped back to catch distance and was surprised when he saw Hakuro with a deadly look on his face and an evil aura surrounding him.
"It seems that in addition to being skilled, you're disrespectful. I'll have to teach you a pair of manners, young man." said Hakuro.
"Yeah, Hakuro doesn't exactly like to be called that word" said Rimuru.
"Of course" began Rukia patting her face. "If there was anyone stupid enough to call someone that, it would be him." said Rukia, for even though the others treated the captains of divisions, especially Genryusai, with respect, he treated them like random people, even calling the captain-commander 'old man'.
"Hey! I can hear you! And you could have warned me about that already!" exclaimed Ichigo angrily.
"That's not something to be warned about, you idiot!" said Renji.
Before Ichigo could say anything, Hakuro appeared in front of him.
"You shouldn't let your guard down in the middle of combat." said Hakuro.
Ichigo reacted quickly and raised his sword in time to block a sword strike from the older kijin, but the force of the blow caused him to slide backwards quite a bit.
"Since the other two have introduced themselves, I should do the same. My name is Hakuro and I am the one who taught the sword art to Benimaru and Lord Rimuru" said Hakuro.
That made both Ichigo and the others in their group surprised.
If he was the one who taught swordplay to a Demon Lord and the commander-in-chief, it meant that he was much stronger and more skilled than they thought.
Ichigo had to admit that he was a little nervous as it was as if he was facing a mixture of Byakuya and Genryusai.
However, he couldn't back down now.
The older kijin had said he was skilled and he wasn't going to let him down in any way, so, with a serious expression, he positioned himself to fight.
"I see you're going to continue. Excellent. Let's see if you're as strong as I saw before." said Hakuro.
"I'll make sure I won't let you down. Getsuga Tenshou!" shouted Ichigo throwing a wave of energy.
Hakuro easily dodged the attack before lunging towards the substitute shinigami, who did the same.
When the two met, they clashed their swords, generating a small wave of wind.
In the next instant, the two entered into a sword duel, with each trying to attack the other, only to dodge or block each attack.
At one point, Hakuro was about to hit him, but Ichigo used shunpo to quickly disappear and reappear next to the older kijin with sword held high, which he quickly brought down.
Noticing the incoming attack, Hakuro spun and used his sword to block Ichigo's sword, who took advantage of that to side kick him, but Hakuro raised his arm to block the attack before launching his own kick, causing the substitute shinigami to be sent aside.
In the next instant, both Ichigo and Hakuro began to move at such a high speed that they couldn't be seen except when the two clashed their swords, appearing and reappearing all over the battlefield.
As they fought, Rimuru noticed something.
"Why hasn't Ichigo unleashed his shikai?" asked Rimuru, thinking that, this being Hakuro, he would have unleashed his zanpakuto to try to keep up.
"He has from the beginning." said Orihime.
"What?" asked Rimuru in confusion.
"The size and shape of a zanpakuto depends on the reiryoku of its wielder. We usually concentrate that power so that they take the shape of normal katanas" said Renji showing his own sword.
"However, Ichigo possesses large amounts of reiryoku. So much that he isn't able to concentrate it at all, so his zanpakuto is always in shikai state." said Rukia.
Rimuru was taken aback, as he didn't expect to hear that from the substitute shinigami.
He began to think that if he had so much power that he couldn't contain his shikai, how much power would he have unleashing his bankai?
"Raphael, analyze Ichigo." thought Rimuru.
"Analysis." began Raphael analyzing the substitute shinigami. "Detected various energy mixed within Ichigo."
That made Rimuru's eyes widen in surprise.
More than one energy inside him?
It was clear that one of them was shinigami and thanks to Raphael, he sensed that one was quite dark and sinister and the other, for some reason, was almost similar to Uryu's.
How was it possible for a single person to have those kinds of energies inside him?
Several questions popped into his mind, but there was one in particular that wouldn't leave his mind for a long time.
"What exactly are you, Ichigo Kurosaki?" asked Rimuru mentally.
Meanwhile, Ichigo and Hakuro continued their fight, moving quickly, disappearing from each part and then reappearing in another part where they clashed weapons.
When they reappeared at another spot, Hakuro prepared to attack with his sword, but then…
"Getsuga Tenshou!" shouted Ichigo launching a wave of energy.
Unfortunately, Hakuro quickly disappeared to avoid the attack and appeared behind Ichigo, from where he launched a sword attack, but Ichigo quickly turned around and repelled the attack with his sword.
He threw his fist forward to strike the older kijin, but Hakuro caught his fist with his hand without much effort, much to the surprise of the substitute shinigami.
Then, Hakuro threw his fist backwards, causing Ichigo to stumble a bit, which he took advantage of to hit him with a heavy blow with the unsharpened part of his sword.
Ichigo let out a gasp of horror before being sent backwards, sliding on the ground for a while and when he stopped, he quickly got up.
Hakuro disappeared again and reappeared in front of Ichigo with his sword ready to slash, but Ichigo used his sword in such a way that Hakuro's sword slid down it all the way up and then Ichigo swung his sword at him, but Hakuro was faster and jumped backwards to avoid it and while he was in the air…
"Getsuga Tenshou!" shouted Ichigo throwing a wave of energy.
As the wave traveled towards the older kijin, he got into position and when the wave reached him, he slashed it with his sword, much to the shock of the substitute shinigami.
The moment Hakuro landed on the ground, he launched himself at full speed towards the substitute shinigami, who was able to react in time to raise his sword and block the attack.
Ichigo had to press his feet into the ground to avoid sliding backwards due to the force of the attack.
They were pushing each other until they repelled each other.
Wasting no time, they lunged at each other again, readying their swords for one more strike, but then…
"The combat is over!" said Rimuru.
In the next instant, both combatants stopped in front of each other, but while Ichigo's sword was half a distance from Hakuro's head, the older kijin's sword was less distance from Ichigo's head.
Ichigo let out a small sigh as he saw that he had escaped serious harm.
Seeing that the fight was over, the two relaxed their stances as Hakuro sheathed his sword.
"Not bad, young man. You really are what I thought." began Hakuro, surprising the substitute shinigami by the compliment. "There are still a few things to improve on, so I hope you do at some point." said Hakuro before walking away.
"Hakuro." began Ichigo, causing the older kijin to stop and turn his head towards him. "This isn't over, do you hear me? Someday, we will have another match and I will defeat you." said Ichigo with determination.
"You'll have to prove it with deeds, not words." began Hakuro before turning his gaze back to the front. "So I expect you to do that when we fight next time, Ichigo Kurosaki."
Ichigo couldn't help but smile as he saw Hakuro treating him a little better than before.
As he returned to his own, he couldn't help but think that he could ask him for a lesson or two.
"Have these bouts satisfied you, Lord Rimuru?" asked Rukia.
"Quite a bit. No doubt you all have skills and I hope you can use them properly during your stay in the city." said Rimuru.
"Wait, are you going to let us stay in your city?" asked Orihime.
"Of course. After all, you don't have anywhere else to go. Besides, if you're looking for those revolutionaries, you can get the information here that could help you." said Rimuru.
"That makes a lot of sense." said Renji.
"Yeah, we wouldn't accomplish much by going back and forth. It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack." said Uryu.
"But here, we could find out where in the haystack the needle is." said Chad.
"Exactly. So, I Rimuru Tempest, Demon Lord and leader of the Jura Tempest Federation, welcome you to the city." said Rimuru with a smile as he extended his hand towards them.
The group couldn't help but be a little surprised, as they hadn't long arrived in the city and their leader was welcoming them with open arms, allowing them to stay and help them with their mission.
Rimuru really was someone kind and respectable.
Ichigo smiled at the slime human before shaking his hand.