Haven't written anything in awhile so hopefully you guys like this.
Chapter One: The Beast and the Broken Boy
The sky was painted in hues of twilight, yet the battlefield was a canvas of death. The White Whale, a monstrous abomination of pale flesh and madness, roared across the endless mist. Its very presence drowned out hope, turning warriors into corpses and heroes into dust.
Subaru Natsuki stood in the heart of the carnage, his body trembling, his mind barely holding together. Around him, the fallen lay scattered—Crusch, her once-proud figure broken beneath her shattered blade. Rem, her azure hair matted with blood. Wilhelm, his sword just out of reach, eyes staring blankly into nothingness.
It had happened again.
No matter how much he struggled, no matter how much he planned, the outcome remained unchanged. Death came for them all, leaving Subaru as the last one standing—a cruel, mocking joke played by fate.
His breath hitched, hands gripping the hilt of his useless sword. His knees buckled, his mind screaming.
"Why? Why can't I save them?"
As if answering his despair, the mist around him thickened, twisting unnaturally. It wasn't the White Whale's doing—this was something else. A pressure unlike anything he had ever felt crushed down on him, suffocating, raw, and violent.
Then, it appeared.
A rift tore through reality, black and jagged, like a wound in the world itself. From its depths, a figure stepped forward.
Towering. Unrestrained. A presence that exuded pure battle.
The man wore tattered robes and an eyepatch over one eye, his wild mane of hair framing a face twisted into a grin of pure, unfiltered excitement. A massive sword rested on his shoulder, its edge stained with the memory of countless battles.
Subaru didn't need to ask who or what he was.
He was destruction incarnate.
The man cracked his neck, rolling his shoulders. His single eye locked onto Subaru, and his grin widened.
"You're still standing?" His voice was rough, like steel grinding against stone. "Didn't think there'd be anyone left alive after a mess like this."
Subaru could barely form words. "W-Who…?"
The man ignored the question, stepping forward, boots crunching over corpses without care. He glanced at the White Whale, then back at Subaru.
"Let me guess. You tried to fight that thing and got everyone killed?"
Subaru's jaw clenched. He wanted to argue, to fight back against the accusation—but it was true.
The man exhaled through his nose, unimpressed.
"You're weak," he stated, like it was an undeniable fact of the universe. "Pathetic, even. But…" He tilted his head, as if studying something only he could see. "There's something interesting about you."
Subaru swallowed hard, his mind racing. This man—whoever he was—stood amidst all this horror as if none of it mattered. He didn't fear the White Whale. He didn't acknowledge the despair.
For the first time since this nightmare began, Subaru felt something unfamiliar creeping up his spine.
It wasn't fear.
It was hope.
"Come with me," the man said, turning back toward the rift. "You're not gonna get anywhere like this. If you want to stop losing, you need to get stronger."
Subaru hesitated. "You think you can just fix this?"
The man stopped. Then, with a laugh that shook the air, he looked over his shoulder.
"Kid, I don't 'fix' things. I break them until they work right."
Subaru glanced back at his fallen friends, at the horror he couldn't escape, the pain that had chained him down for so long.
Then, without another word, he stepped into the rift.
The battlefield vanished. The White Whale faded.
And Kenpachi Zaraki the Soul Reaper Captain of Squad 11 grinned.
The real battle was about to begin.
THE RIFT
Subaru stumbled as he emerged from the rift, his body instinctively bracing for the unfamiliar. The battlefield was gone. The mist. The corpses. The White Whale. All of it had vanished.
In its place was something worse.
The sky above was cracked, as if reality itself had been wounded. Floating islands of stone drifted aimlessly, some crumbling into the abyss below. The air was thick with the scent of blood and steel, and the distant echoes of battle filled the void like an endless war that never ceased.
It was a world of fighting.
A world that belonged to Kenpachi.
Subaru took a shaky step forward, trying to process what he was seeing. "Where… where the hell are we?"
Kenpachi turned to face him, his ever-present grin stretching across his scarred face. "Ain't got a name. Just call it what it is—a place where only the strong survive."
Subaru swallowed hard. He already regretted stepping through that portal.
Kenpachi swung his massive sword over his shoulder, resting it lazily as he gestured around. "You wanted to stop losing, right? Then this is where we fix that."
Subaru narrowed his eyes. "And how exactly are you gonna do that?"
Kenpachi's grin widened.
"By killing you. Over and over again."
Subaru barely had time to react before Kenpachi moved.
A rush of wind. A blur of motion. Then—pain.
A blade tore through Subaru's chest before he even registered the attack.
He gasped, choking as blood sprayed from his mouth. The world tilted, his body refusing to respond.
He hit the ground. Hard.
The sky blurred above him, darkening as his vision faded. The last thing he saw was Kenpachi standing over him, looking disappointed.
Then—
Darkness.
Then—
Pain.
Then—
He woke up.
Gasping, Subaru jolted upright, clutching his chest. He was alive. His body was intact, but the memory of the pain still burned in his mind. He looked around, realizing he was back in the same hellish landscape.
Kenpachi was standing a few feet away, watching him with amusement. "Not bad. You're still sane."
Subaru panted, sweat dripping down his face. "You… killed me."
"Yeah. And I'll do it again."
Subaru scrambled to his feet, heart pounding. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"
Kenpachi shrugged. "You don't get stronger by swinging a stick around and hoping for the best. You get stronger by dying and learning why you lost." He cracked his knuckles. "And you're gonna lose a lot."
Subaru clenched his fists. His body still remembered the pain. The fear. The absolute helplessness.
But… he had come here for a reason.
He had seen everyone die because he was too weak. If this was what it took to change that—
He gritted his teeth, standing his ground.
Kenpachi grinned.
"Good. Let's go again."
And the training from hell began.