Chapter 42: A Relative's Downfall

Byakuya's POV

I managed to sense them before I saw them.

Senbonzakura's blades were coming in from four different directions, creating a shield right in front of my face to protect me from Kouga's killing blow. His weapon was mere inches away from my nose before my blade protected me.

"Impossible! It did shikai by itself?" I hear Kouga exclaim as I sense my spirit materializing right beside me. "How is this possible?"

"Senbonzakura?" I say, glad that he came to my aid, and just in the nick of time too. A few seconds more and the Kuchiki Clan would be without a leader. "You were cutting it a little close."

"My apologies master. I know your senses are clouded, but please, rely on me and my strength. I will fight as your eyes and limbs. Instruct me to do as you wish."

"As if I'll let you do anything!" Kouga angrily exclaims as the ice that contains me shatters, allowing for Senbonzakura to return to my hand. "I will control the senses of you and your zanpakuto together!"

"That will not happen," I tell him smoothly as I drop Senbonzakura. "Bankai."

The atmosphere changes as soon as my blade disappears into the ground. The large blades of Senbonzakura's bankai emerge from the earth as the area becomes covered in a bluish haze. They break apart before reforming themselves into the hundreds of katanas that were the trademark of Senbonzakura Kageyoshi's Senkei form.

If I was going to finish this, I was going to make this quick.

"This is the Senkei form of Senbonzakura Kageyoshi," I explain to my emaciated relative as he continues to look around the area. "It is its true form. It focuses all of its offensive energy toward its sole purpose of defeating my enemies. Your defensive capabilities and your ability to confuse one's senses are of no use to you here. One way or another, my blade will find you."

"Your blade will find me wherever I am in this dome huh?" Kouga manages to say as he readies his blade, even going so far as to let out a small chuckle with his statement. "Well then. Let's test that out. Let's see how well it can find me."

We leap toward each other, our spiritual pressure rushing out from all sides as our weapons clash against each other. When we both go in for a strike, the result is the same; both of us staying relatively even with each other. Our power actually makes us recoil from one another, and using this to his advantage, Kouga manages to use his shadows to bind my arms once again. However, Senbonzakura sends down some of his blades to cut my bindings, freeing me once again. Seeing that he was momentarily distracted, I leap forward and hold my blade leveled with Kouga's eye. I was barely an inch away from piercing my blade through his head before he moved to his right, missing my blow.

"Damn you . . ." he says as the agitation shows on his face. "How did you manage to possess so much power?"

"We fight together. That's what gives us power," Senbonzakura says for the both of us as he appears behind my shoulder. "A Shinigami and their zanpakuto are meant to be one. Their true power can only be revealed once their souls are harmonious with each other. It's because of your pride and arrogance that you've abandoned the one person you need right now in this battle. You cannot defeat us by yourself."

"Shut up! I will show the both of you that I do not need my zanpakuto in order to beat you. You don't know enough about me to judge me! Despite all my successes, no one acknowledged what I did for the Soul Society. Instead, they branded me a traitor and sealed me away, causing me to look like this now. Power is needed to create order, and with my power, I will become king of the new world!"

"You are full of foolish notions," I say as I finally step into the conversation, my patience running very thin despite my stoic face. "You have failed to realize the true nature of power. What you need is to learn to relate to others, as well as your zanpakuto."

"That's never been the power I've needed," says Kouga, still as stubborn as ever. "My power is like no other, and I will use it to destroy you!"

"There is no getting through to you after all. As the Head of the Kuchiki Clan, I will honor the wishes of my predecessor and defeat you," I say as Senbonzakura shifts from Senkei to Shukei Hakuteiken. Kouga readies his blade as I feel his spiritual pressure spike to match mine. "Because you were once part of the Kuchiki Clan, I will at least oblige you by defeating you with my ultimate technique."

"I will defeat you, and therefore end this curse of the Kuchiki Clan once and for all!" he exclaims for his final words. We charge, and once our blades connected, our attacks blended together to create a blinding flash of light. I felt my blade hit flesh, but the light becomes too disorienting for me to see a clear picture of what happened.

I land about fifty feet away from Kouga and almost stumble to my knees if it weren't for Senbonzakura holding me up. I hear the sounds of a wound opening up, so I turn my head in time to see blood shoot out of the fatal wound I dealt him. We both hear him call out for his zanpakuto one more time, but his call falls on deaf ears as he falls into the water, Muramasa nowhere to be seen.

"This is over," I say, finally relieved that this ordeal was now done with. "If only he wasn't such a weak minded fool."

"If it wasn't for his power, he probably wouldn't have deluded himself into attacking the Soul Society," says Senbonzakura as a small smirk shows across his face, his mask broken enough that it left his mouth uncovered. "He was basically the opposite of you, who willingly let the Soul Society brand him as a traitor, but now that this is over, you can return to claim your place of honor among your peers and hold your head up high again."

Senbonzakura doesn't do much to annoy me, however, this moment is one of the times he does.

"Senbonzakura, you talk too much."

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