Bleach: Reborn — Chapter 128 - Battle Against a Soul Reaper

"Get lost."

Wayne spat the single word, but it carried the crushing weight of his volatile Reiatsu. It bore down on the Soul Reaper for a split second, just a split second, but enough.

Wayne's total Reiryoku still fell short of a Soul Reaper's. Its quality, however, had already far surpassed that of any ordinary one. The instant his Reiatsu erupted, even a seated-officer-level opponent had no choice but to yield before its edge.

"Huh?!" The Soul Reaper, Shinyasu, went ashen. That split-second impact made him question his own senses. Yet when he probed the man's Reiatsu again, it still read weaker than his own.

"You little punk! You dare talk back to me? Do you know who I am?"

"A Soul Reaper?" Wayne's face was blank.

"Hmph! You know I'm a Soul Reaper and you still defy me? You mocking the prestige of the Gotei 13?!"

"Heh." Wayne laughed, pure fury. "The Gotei 13 just grabs people whenever it feels like it? What crime did my little sister commit, exactly?"

"What crime? She carried a blade openly on the street, endangering everyone around her! Isn't that enough?!"

"Rukongai has no law against carrying a blade on the street. This is a standard-issue katana, it falls squarely within Rukongai's regulations. My sister kept it wrapped in cloth the entire time. Never drew it. Never showed it. Standard-issue katanas are recognized as trade goods in Rukongai. You're a Soul Reaper of the Gotei 13, and you don't even know basic trade law?"

"You,!" Shinyasu found himself at a loss. The man knew Rukongai's trade regulations inside and out.

"Standard-issue katanas belong to Rukongai's nobility! How did you get one?" The shady merchant, cowering behind the Soul Reaper with only his head poking out, jabbed a finger at Wayne.

"Hm? Yes! How did you get it?" Shinyasu seized the opening and pressed the question.

"Through trade," Wayne said, unhurried.

"Utter nonsense. Standard-issue longswords never leave noble hands. You stole it!" the merchant shrieked.

"That's right! I suspect you of stealing noble property. You're coming back to the Seireitei with me!"

"...Which squad are you from?" Wayne frowned. He'd seen shameless before, never this shameless. Calling a deer a horse, and with righteous conviction. Who gave this man the nerve?

"Me?" Shinyasu puffed up with sudden arrogance. "I am Shinyasu of Squad Eleven! Our captain — the name Kenpachi — you've heard of him, yes?"

"Kenpachi, huh?" Wayne considered it. "As far as I know, Squad Eleven is a combat division. Patrol duty falls to Squad Five and Squad Ten. What business is this of yours? Instead of eliminating the Hollow Beasts outside Rukongai, you're here meddling in other people's affairs?"

"You,! All mouth, you brat!" Shinyasu had no answer. Wayne was right. Handling matters in Rukongai was already overstepping his authority, and he was the one who'd stirred up trouble in the first place. If the higher-ups investigated, he'd be in serious trouble. So, rage hardening into resolve, Shinyasu decided to solve the problem with violence.

"Seems I'll have to get a little serious."

Shinyasu drew the blade at his waist, a genuine Zanpakuto. As it left its sheath, his Reiatsu began to climb. He chanted the release incantation, and in an instant, his Reiatsu surged.

"Ram him flying! Nairo!"

The Zanpakuto transformed into two massive gauntlets fitted over his hands. At the tip of each gauntlet jutted two spikes, like deer antlers.

"Fist spikes," Wayne murmured inwardly. A weakling, sure, but still a Soul Reaper assigned to Squad Eleven. Combat-oriented Shikai were predominantly physical-type Zanpakuto. Yumichika, of course, was the exception.

"Brat — prepare to die!"

Shinyasu charged. The fist spikes whipped up scorching flames. A searing red glow trailed his punch as he drove it straight at Wayne's face.

"Big Brother Tsukishiro!" Momo, still restrained by the merchant, tried to rush forward. She'd felt that Soul Reaper's Reiatsu. At that level, she knew a direct hit would send her collapsing helplessly to the ground. And her big brother,

"Big Brother Tsukishiro! Dodge!" Shiro-chan shouted from behind, frantic. He wanted to charge in, but his Reiryoku hadn't fully awakened. He couldn't withstand the Reiatsu bearing down on them.

"Die!"

Shinyasu's fist was inches from Wayne's skull. A dozen centimeters. Maybe less.

Wayne didn't flinch.

He sidestepped left, his whole body twisting to evade the punch's wind. His right hand swept a clockwise arc and slapped Shinyasu's right arm, deflecting the trajectory from forward to straight down.

BOOM!

The fist slammed into the ground. Scorching air blasted outward. Wayne used the momentum to retreat, putting distance between them.

"Damn it." Shinyasu got to his feet. He glanced at his scraped knuckles, shook out his hand, and gathered himself for another attack.

"That's it?" Wayne muttered.

He picked up a shard of broken stone from the ground, clenched it in his fist with one end wedged between ring finger and index finger. Then his Reiryoku erupted.

In the space of a blink, Wayne's speed outpaced Shinyasu's eyes. They crossed paths, Wayne slipped past Shinyasu's fist and drove his own punch into the man's ribs. The stone shard, infused with Wayne's Reiatsu, had become impossibly hard. One strike.

Shinyasu's breath left him. The crack of splintering ribs followed.

"GWAH,!"

Shinyasu couldn't pull air back in. He collapsed, lungs heaving desperately. The jarring shock and fractured bones sent agony tearing through him, this noble-born Soul Reaper who'd been coasting through Squad Eleven had never suffered like this. The pain was so overwhelming he couldn't even maintain his Shikai. His Zanpakuto reverted to its sealed Asauchi form.

"Trash."

Wayne's face dripped disdain. He stepped past Shinyasu and walked toward the merchant.

"Y-you, don't come any closer!" The merchant's legs gave out. He released Momo, dropped Wayne's katana to the ground, and collapsed, scrabbling backward on the floor.

"Big Brother!" Freed, Momo threw herself into Wayne's arms.

"You okay, Momo?" Seeing her unharmed, Wayne ruffled her hair.

"Mm." She shook her head. She was fine.

"Good. Now, time to settle accounts." Wayne's expression went cold. He walked forward, picked up the katana, drew the blade, and advanced on the merchant step by step.

"Wh-what are you going to do?" Cold sweat streamed down the merchant's face. His legs wouldn't stop shaking.

"What am I going to do?" Wayne smiled. "To make sure the good people around here never get extorted by you again, I've decided, "

SHING!

The blade left its sheath. Its razor tip stopped a hair from the merchant's nose.

"Y-you can't kill me. My uncle is a Soul Reaper. He's, "

"A Soul Reaper? So what? Push me far enough, and I'll kill them all the same." Wayne's expression was sharp as the blade in his hand. Sword light rose with the pulse of his Reiatsu. He raised the katana and brought it slashing down, straight at the merchant's face.

"AAAAAHHHH!"

A scream. Then a puddle of yellow, reeking liquid streaming down the merchant's pant leg.

Wayne's blade stopped just short. A scar of displaced earth ran past the merchant's scalp, carving a shallow trench into the ground. The merchant had been shaved completely bald, but his life was untouched. His eyes, however, had rolled back white. He'd fainted.

"Tsk, tsk." Wayne clicked his tongue at the man's cowardice.

"Shiro-chan, Momo, we're leaving."

Wayne led the two children away from the marketplace. But before departing, he paused at the entrance to the merchant's shop and said, casually, to no one in particular:

"Is no one managing this place anymore?"

The gathered souls caught his meaning instantly. They swarmed in like water through a sluice gate and cleaned out the clothing store down to the last scrap.

If Wayne had taken everything himself, no one would have dared follow. He had the strength, after all.

But mobilizing the common folk to take things together? No matter how much the Seireitei wanted to assign blame, it would land on Shinyasu's head first. And the clothes and fabric the residents had taken, who was going to search every house door-to-door?

"Big Brother..." On the way home, Momo's face was tight with worry. "We've made enemies of the Shinyasu nobles. Will they come after us?"

"I didn't kill either of them today for two reasons," Wayne explained. "One: to demonstrate strength. Two: I don't want to freeze relations with this family completely. We can't compare to the nobles inside the Seireitei. We can't afford to make outright enemies. The people backing them could pin any charge on our heads, and we'd never dig our way out." He turned and glanced, pointedly, toward Shiro-chan. "Shiro-chan staying out of today's conflict was the right call. If this got aimed at Granny, the next few years wouldn't be easy for him."

"Big Brother Tsukishiro." Shiro-chan's emerald eyes held a cold gleam. "Are we just supposed to let these despicable nobles walk all over us?"

"Of course not." Wayne shook his head. "Once we raise our own standing — once we're on equal footing with them, or higher — they won't be able to bully us anymore." His voice turned earnest. "And the way to reach that height..."

"Become a Soul Reaper."

Momo's gaze was steel. She'd once wanted to become a Soul Reaper out of admiration for their power, out of a sense of justice, to protect the Seireitei, to protect Rukongai. She'd never imagined scum like today's Soul Reaper existed, abusing the names of nobility and duty to commit outrages. So Momo made her decision. Not just a Soul Reaper, a seated officer. A lieutenant. A captain. She would root out every last trace of corruption inside the Seireitei and out.

"A Soul Reaper, huh..."

Shiro-chan looked up at the sky. His eyes held something unreadable, not quite longing, not quite loathing. Maybe a trace of reluctance. A trace of attachment. To home. To the watermelon fields. To Granny. But it all flickered and vanished behind his eyes in an instant. He didn't let it show.

Back home, the four of them sat around the dinner table. The two children chattered about the day's events. Granny showed a flicker of worry, but it faded quickly. She believed, firmly, that as long as Wayne was here, the children wouldn't come to harm. And Wayne's handling of the situation earned her quiet approval.

Before your wings are fully grown, don't make mortal enemies. Show enough strength to intimidate. That's enough.

"Granny," Wayne said between mouthfuls of rice, "the watermelon field's basically running itself at this point. For the next while, I want to put everything into training my Reiryoku. Aiming to pass the Shin'ō Academy entrance exam in two or three months."

"That's fine, little Tsukishiro. Give it everything you've got." Granny nodded. "You've worked hard." She understood. This watermelon field was only Wayne's starting point. Rukongai, even the Seireitei, wouldn't hold him. He had a far wider world ahead. And since he'd arrived, their home hadn't just gained warmth and liveliness, their days had grown steadily more prosperous. She had no reason to hold him back.

"Do what you need to do. If you ever get tired, come back to Granny. I may not have much, but watermelons, those I can promise you plenty of."

"Mm!" Wayne beamed. Momo and Shiro-chan didn't fully grasp the exchange, chatting and laughing on their own. Everything still felt warm. Easy.

After dinner, Wayne walked Momo home. That night, he headed into the forest alone once more.

The hunting couldn't stop. It was the fastest way to build his Reiryoku. And now, with a proper blade in hand, Wayne could handle elite-class lower Hollow Beasts with ease. Even against a high-level Hollow Beast, he now had the means to fight.

Going forward, he'd expand his hunting grounds, tracking down the Hollow Beasts that strayed near the Seireitei.

The prey he hunted now only increased his Reiryoku as a Soul Reaper. The Hollow Beast Reiatsu stored inside his body he would accumulate gradually. As his Reiryoku grew, his capacity for Hollow Beast Reiatsu would rise alongside it. He had to gather enough before the exam to push his strength higher.

The entire forest became his hunting ground. In that moment, it was like being back in his lower Hollow Beast days, traps, obstacles, ambush points, sneak attacks.

He hunted Hollow Beasts. He hunted anything that could replenish his Reishi.

With a weapon that fit his hand, his efficiency soared. One night. One Hollow Beast. Three wild hares. Two pheasants. A wild boar, roughly fifty jin. In the river, he caught two fat, gleaming salmon. By the end of it, Wayne had hauled in a full bounty.

He built a fire. Roasted the meat. Everything but the boar, he left not a scrap, devouring it all. While his Reiatsu surged full and bright, he consumed the Hollow Beast's Hollow Mask. His Reiryoku took another leap forward.

When it was done, Wayne clapped his hands in satisfaction, hoisted the boar onto his shoulder, and headed home.

➤ Next: Journey to the Seireitei