𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄 | 𝐁𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 [MINOR EDITING]

³⁹ sᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ sᴏᴜʟ

They just keep on coming. I've nearly reached my quota for the number of Hollows I've exorcised. Soon, I'll be tipping the scales in the opposite direction, which is exactly what I don't need in this scenario.

So, I sheathe Bõkyaku and rip off my sleeves. To prevent a great accumulation of souls reaching the Soul Society - save for the handful of Hollows that ended up being condemned by the messengers of Hell - I decide to use my Kidõ and Hakuda to incapacitate them.

"Soren Sokatsui!" I shout at a great hoard of Hollows. An electric fire, blue in colour, erupts from my palm, the strength of it blasting me a few feet backwards. I keep my footing, and whirl around, ramming my heel into the eye socket of one of them. From the point of impact, it sends a split up to the top of its head before disintegrating. If there's one thing I can count on, it's this ridiculous physical strength I've inherited from Kayanara allowing me to take care of business; no need for a Zanpakutõ.

"Remind me to never let you fall on me again!" Kūgo shouts across the clearing.

"It was an accident!" I yell back, face flushed with both embarrassment and an odd kind of flattery as I strike down another Hollow. "Next time, don't scream like you're being murdered, then!"

"Next time, huh?!" He grunts, and a loud thud shakes the ground beneath me. I turn in Kūgo's direction to find a Menos, of all things, step through one of the Garganta. It sends a greater split through the void to make it larger for him. "Sounds like after this, you don't want to get rid of me, eh?"

"Does your ego have ears all of a sudden?" I ask with a laugh, rebrandishing my sword, and eyeing the Menos. It's going to take a lot more than Kidõ to take this guy down. The other Hollows have stopped in their tracks upon its arrival. "I meant that I doubt this'll be the last time I meet you in this lifetime."

I sense Kūgo gathering his spiritual energy around himself. Taking down a couple of lesser Hollows on my way over to him, the Menos roars down at us.

"And here I thought you finally decided to acknowledge the sexual tension between us," he says. I can't tell if he's joking or not, so I don't know how to verbally respond. Instead, I flush red once more at his statement. "Ah, so you have acknowledged it."

"Sh-Shut up!" I say, and I push him back; this had startled him, so he falls on his hands and backside with a noise of affrontment. "I've acknowledged nothing! Besides, I'm spoken for back home!" I place Bõkyaku out in front of me. "Now stand back and let me handle this."

Kūgo chuckles. "You really are a crazy woman."

I smirk, and with a great swing of my sword, I shout, "Kyakura Tenshõ!" A bright, flowing wave of pure spiritual energy shoots out of the edge of my blade. It roars again, its pointed nose raised toward the dark sky above it in fury. With a body so large, it takes time for it to fully disappear, but when it does, the Adjuchas who'd been marching toward me through the crowd of remaining Hollows finally reaches me.