Chapter 32

Muguruma Kensei's pupils contracted violently, large beads of cold sweat streaming down his forehead, the muscles of the arm gripping his Zanpakuto taut and trembling madly.

Then—

Two figures crossed and interweaved, blade shadows invisible to the naked eye everywhere, the scattered Reiatsu snapping trees clean in half, the earth splitting open with dark, abyssal fissures!

The destructive power was terrifyingly immense.

Not long after.

A figure was sent flying backward, caught firmly by the uncle in the pink haori.

At this moment.

Muguruma Kensei's body was covered in slash wounds, looking blood-soaked and utterly wretched.

His hands were empty; his Zanpakuto had long since been knocked god-knows-where.

Kyoraku Shunsui watched Kenpachi Zaraki below, a pair of eyes narrowing.

This Kenpachi Zaraki...

Already possesses the strength of a top-tier Captain!

027. Shikai! Sever All Creation!

"The Captain... lost?"

The watching crowd shuddered, scalps tingling.

Looking at Kenpachi, standing majestic and unmoved in the arena with only two negligible slash wounds on his chest, and the utterly wretched Muguruma Kensei, they sucked in a cold breath.

Terrifying!

A Captain of the Gotei 13!

In Soul Society, already a remarkable powerhouse, yet even such a powerhouse couldn't withstand Kenpachi Zaraki?

Is this the substance of the man standing at the apex of Rukongai?

"I heard Kuchiki Senya is also at Captain-level strength—wonder what degree he can reach!"

"Muguruma Kensei was that miserable; even if Kuchiki Senya is stronger, he can't be that much stronger than a Captain, right?"

The crowd buzzed with discussion, shaking their heads and sighing.

At the same time.

They were even more struck by Kenpachi Zaraki's might.

Kenpachi, Kensei, Kyoraku Shunsui...

The immense Reiatsu of the few made even breathing extremely difficult for them.

"Kuchiki Senya!"

"Come out and fight me!"

Kenpachi Zaraki casually slung his blade over his shoulder, a row of white teeth like a fierce tiger's fangs, his entire aura incomparably savage and violent.

His Reiatsu seemed to take on substance, heavy as a mountain, pouring out madly in all directions!

Eager for the next stage of battle.

Kyoraku Shunsui, meanwhile, simply treated Muguruma Kensei's injuries off to the side, letting out a breath.

His face relaxed a little.

"Good thing it only looks terrible—nothing too serious." Kyoraku Shunsui murmured softly.

It seemed.

Kenpachi Zaraki simply wanted to fight, to find strong opponents to fight!

He wasn't outright trying to kill anyone; aside from the Reiatsu disturbance, he hadn't laid a hand on civilians either.

"Dammit! That Kenpachi..." Muguruma Kensei opened his eyes as well, the stinging pain across his body telling him the fact of his defeat.

He glared at Kenpachi Zaraki, gnashing his teeth.

"His Zanpakuto hasn't even been Shikai'd, yet his strength and speed are simply horrifying!"

"This time, he's come purely for Kuchiki Senya."

"Can Kuchiki Senya hold on?"

A trace of worry surfaced in Muguruma Kensei's eyes.

"Kuchiki Senya is no easy mark either." Kyoraku Shunsui returned to his nonchalant expression, flashing a grin.

"After all."

"Even the Captain-Commander couldn't fully probe Kuchiki Senya's strength."

Saying so.

He casually sat down on the grass, an expression of melon-eating spectator on his face.

Muguruma Kensei beside him was covered in black lines—this Kyoraku Shunsui was quite the hand at slacking off and spectating.

"If you don't come out, I'll come in and find you!"

A moment later.

No response.

Kenpachi Zaraki's mouth twitched.

Dragging his blade, he was about to walk into Senya Pavilion, the blade scraping "Shhh—" against the ground, carving out a long, deep groove.

Even a chipped, saw-toothed Zanpakuto, under absolute power, could unleash the strength of another's Shikai—or even Bankai!

The next moment.

Kenpachi Zaraki's pupils contracted slightly, his figure halting abruptly.

A handsome youth in a floral shirt, wearing a sun hat, a bottle of high-proof liquor in hand, appeared before him.

He looked unrestrained and unbridled, a complete wastrel Young Master, without a trace of threat.

However.

In Kenpachi Zaraki's perception,

the handsome youth before him was like a slumbering hidden dragon, its edge concealed within.

And like an unfathomable abyss, impossible to glimpse the end of at a glance — only a darkness that made one's scalp go numb.

"Kuchiki Senya?"

Every muscle in Kenpachi Zaraki's body tensed; he held his Zanpakutō horizontally across his chest, not underestimating the youth before him in the slightest because of his appearance.

At the same time,

a surge of scorching blood and qi ignited his entire body, his spiritual pressure rising further; every tree and boulder around him shattered to pieces!

His entire presence had reached its absolute peak!

Slay gods that block, slay buddhas that block!

So long as a single breath remained, he could keep fighting, fighting without cease!

However.

What answered him was only a single blade-light, like the Heavenly River pouring down, condensing billions upon billions of razor-sharp cold glints.

"Shikai."

"Annihilate the Universe, Sever All Creation!"

Wherever the blade-light reached, all things in the universe were destroyed!

As far as the eye could see,

everything was a vast expanse of white, within which a single piercing streak of blood-red abruptly appeared…

Everyone present could not open their eyes, only feeling their skin prickling with insane pain, as if billions of tiny steel needles were constantly grinding across it!

Sharpness.

The extreme.

Invincible!

The blade-light became a single line, leaving only the most primal sharpness.

Nothing could obstruct it; everything would be cut clean in two at the waist!

Before long,

the soaring sharpness slowly dissipated.

The world returned to stillness.

"Cling—"

A Zanpakutō covered in serrations and scars split into two halves and fell to the ground, emitting a crisp sound.

The broken edge was smooth as a mirror, as if polished by hundreds of millions of years of river water, every particle severed clean through!