Chapter 184 - A Blade's Worth
The current Forest of Menos was a brimming cesspit of power. The very tepid subsumed with so much amalgamation of Reiatsu that oozed from its depths that tens of miles all the way around it became a dead zone.
It burned. It desecrated. It ravaged maniacally. It killed slowly.
It was a madfest as both Shinigami and Hollow shed their ghostly restraint and remained with one sole goal. Kill.
And in the eye of the storm stood Kenpachi. Grin bloodied. Coat torn. Blade chipped. Still he stood. A bastion of unfettered strength and promised death.
After his initial clash with Yammy, this battle, as unfathomable as it sounded, became more than a dance to kill his enemy or to die.
His blade was eager.
As a very selfish person, the concept of giving thoughts to another, more less a blade – what had primarily been a tool for slaughter –, was very foreign to him and since he took the slower root, spending years splitting his thoughts between what he wanted and what his blade might want, this battle was basically for both of them to say what they both wanted. No more guesses. No more vague conclusions.
Unlike other Shinigami, this was not a matter of trust or acceptance. He had long received those. There might be resentment but it paled to what mattered to the both of them.
And Yammy? He was just the mediator to get their arguments on the same page. Not much of a whetstone, but more of a common disagreement.
Yammy Llargo, the current Octava Espada, the being conceived to be the personification of the Hollow's Aspect of Rage, towered over Kenpachi, wreathed in wrathful red Reiatsu.
Befitting a symbol of rage, his strength soared in tandem with overflowing anger.
"Done whining?" Kenpachi mocked.
"Not nearly enough." Yammy responded and took a quaking step forward. His arm cocked back and with an overwhelming shout, he brought it down on Kenpachi's head who was about to sidestep it with the intent to cut off his fist but stopped as a whine came from within him.
Why avoid what he could cut?
The action, a subconscious one that came from sparring so much with Itachi, one he only did in the face of stupidly obvious but strong attacks due to Itachi's constant admonishment, felt inadequate in this very moment.
"It's a leap of faith. Blind faith…. In a way, they are the truer part of your soul. Birthed from raw desire and unsullied conviction." Itachi's words echoed briefly in his ears and when he looked up, the fist was already on his face.
The fist crashed unapologetically into his face and slugged him into creating a new cave beneath the forest.
His head rang as he stood up and he could taste cringe iron in his mouth.
Why avoid what you can cut? The thought came to him again, only this time it was more specific.
"Hahahaha! How do you like that?" Yammy laughed and rushed at Kenpachi who had half his mind on Yammy and so half-mindedly swung his sword, and despite cutting into Yammy, the latter ran into him like an unstoppable force.
You cut things.
"Eh?" Kenpachi confusedly muttered before his instincts kicked in and he flashed away from his position just moments before a Cero hit it.
Why avoid-
"-what I can cut." Kenpachi interjected stupidly.
Yammy rushed at him again, his Reiatsu surging as he envisioned himself punching Kenpachi into a smush.
Seeing the raging bull that was Yammy, racing fast towards him, Kenpachi's features scrunched up and his Zanpakutō slashed up so fast from its lazily held position that Yammy was too late to realize half of his hand was gone.
In his brief stunned state, Kenpachi flicked his blade sideways and brought it diagonally down only for Yammy's instincts to and forced his Reiatsu to harden his Hierro.
Not fully trusting his Hierro, Yammy opened his mouth and spat out the blast of a hastily formed Cero at Kenpachi at pointblank range, yet Kenpachi's sword unerred in its path.
The uncontrolled Cero swallowed both of them and reduced everything else to ruin as it threatened the very existence of the Forest of Menos.
A terrible gust of wind expelled the dust revealing the both of them battered.
"I know I can cut this fool very easily," Kenpachi said, staring intently at his blade, half-ignoring Yammy as he did, "but I don't want to cut him myself. I want to know how you cut things."
Yammy didn't take well to being ignored, and tolerance being a virtue he was immune to, he acted on his rage, now a towering contrast around him, and pummeled his way towards Kenpachi.
In the face of Yammy's rage, Kenpachi remained unfazed, most of his attention held by the sword in his hand.
"Of course I know how to cut!" He shouted angrily at the unruly thing in his hands as the danger between him and Yammy disappeared.
"I'll show you!"
"DIE Shinigami!"
Uncaring for the Hollows' rage that was casting down on them like a veil, Kenpachi's Reiatsu receded for a split moment before exploding out.
No fanfare was needed as Yammy's other hand fell down along with a split in his torso.
Kenpachi who stood behind him looked at his blade and clicked his tongue in irritation. "Still not enough huh?"
He turned to Yammy whose eyes held a disbelieving rage and asked impatiently.
"Hey you, this is not your everything right? There's something else, I can feel it. So go ahead and bring it out."
Clearly his interest in the battle was based solely on the whims of his Zanpakutō, that while he couldn't hear its voice, he could interpret everything it wanted to say from a vague feeling.
"Get pissed off, Ira." The Zanpakutō strapped to his waist shone and finally the depths of his Reiatsu was unsealed.
The release of Yammy's Resurrección blew away everything around them, including the cave above their heads, to reveal the sole moon of this damned realm.
Kenpachi frowned at this.
"This is it?" He asked, his disappointment all to clear to Yammy.
Instead of facing Yammy, he looked at his blade with clear anger on his face. "Are you seriously making me fight this weakling? I thought his skin was quite strong, but fighting all those small fries made me start holding back. If you can see that he's weak, why are you still interested?"
Yammy's Reiatsu peaked, his current form now towering over Kenpachi like a mountain to an ant, and in his wake a black Cero formed in his mouth. An exclusive technique of the Espada, stronger in magnitude than a normal Cero.
Cero Oscuras.
"Why waste time with him when he's so weak?" Kenpachi asked confusedly. It baffled him. They were only interested in spilling the blood of the strong, so why the insistence of showing him how to cut? And why with this one?
His Zanpakutō vibrated and Kenpachi stilled before frowning.
He slowly understood. It was never about him or how good his cuts were. It wasn't about how great the blood he spilt was.
Shinigami and Zanpakutō – that was how it was and how it will always be.
His cuts, his slashes, his cleaves – none of them will ever be good enough because he wasn't putting his whole soul into it. He wasn't doing it with her.
Claiming they were good enough and his was better was the same as saying he didn't need her.
When will he use her to cut up his enemies?
Kenpachi sighed.
His selfishness was never put in question. She didn't care for it at all. All she cared for was that, rather than him using a carcass of a chipped blade to cut his enemies, why not use her instead? That was all she needed. For him to use her. To use her to draw the blood he so dearly loved.
His selfishness was never the problem because that was all she wanted. She didn't need them to be equals or parts of a whole. All she wanted was to bring him more happiness as he fileted every fool that stepped in his path.
As far as she was concerned, it was always about him – as it rightly should.
His enemies weren't important, neither were their names, as long as her Kenny had his fun.
Kenpachi remained silent as he felt the resonance from his Zanpakutō, and the depths from which she spoke.
"I see." His frown then morphed into a bloody smirk, but to her it was the brightest of smiles. "Then this fool doesn't matter."
Something changed within Kenpachi at that very moment. It was noticeable to those who saw it, and obscure to those who looked at it.
Finally, he turned to Yammy who had formed a chaotic black Cero that was as big as a small hill and easily dwarfed Kenpachi.
"You whine too much."
Everything stilled.
… And then it came.
It started from the crown of Yammy's head and traced a straight line to his pelvis, even through the swirling Cero.
A clean cut that rendered everything useless. It was never that complicated.
The Cero fell apart, the chain reaction of being sliced through being an explosion of darkened Reiatsu and swallowed Yammy whole.
Kenpachi's attention, even after killing an Espada, remained wholly on his blade.
"Don't worry." He assured her. "I won't waste your time with these weaklings. I'll call you when there's someone good enough to face your edge."
He chuckled as he walked deeper into the destroyed Forest of Menos, his Zanpakutō resting giddy against his shoulders.
"Of course. I never lie."
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