Bleach: Reborn — Chapter 154 - Sekiyō

With the Nishikawa clan head no longer breathing down his neck, the pressure on Wayne eased considerably. He could fight with real composure now. After several minutes of combat, he began to show signs of fatigue, same as his earlier matches, deliberately driving up the odds against himself. Then, the moment his opponent let their guard slip, Wayne erupted. A burst of Reiatsu blew the opponent's Zanpakutō wide, and he drove his blade into their chest in the same motion. He followed it up with labored, heaving breaths, selling the image of a man running on fumes.

"Round of sixteen to quarterfinals — Tsukishiro Hinamori wins!"

The referee's flag went up, and with it came another tidy sum flowing into Wayne's pocket. Sharing the joy were Kira and Momo, Ikkaku and Iba, plus Rangiku, who had latched onto Isshin Shiba's arm and was shaking it all over again, and Isshin Shiba himself, eyes rolled back to white.

When the match ended, Seventh Seat Mizusue came onto the field as a matter of course. She helped Wayne up, draped his arm over her shoulder, and walked him back step by step, talking as they went.

"Congratulations. Top eight."

"Congratulations to you too. You're getting rich."

Each quietly pleased, they made their way back to the treatment room.

Out of sight, Wayne had no need to keep up the act. He sat in the treatment room chair, sipping the recovery tonic Mizusue had once again scrounged up through the goodwill of a friend. He hadn't taken a single injury the entire match, so Mizusue was happy to take it easy, sitting to one side and tallying up the haul.

"Put in over a hundred thousand silver rings, and now we're looking at several hundred thousand coming back. Ha ha ha, what should I buy?" she mused, thoroughly pleased.

"By the way, Mizusue-dono, if I wanted to buy a private residence in the Seireitei, roughly how many silver rings would that run me?"

"Hm?" She blinked, caught off guard. "You're a student. You've got housing at the school. Why buy a place in the Seireitei?"

"I want to bring my family here. Closer would be easier." Wayne said it plainly.

"Hmm... if it's one of those noble-style estates near the squad barracks, that could get pricey. Tens of millions of silver rings. Farther from the barracks should be cheaper. Of course, the gap between a high noble's residence and a minor noble's is substantial, do you have anything specific in mind?"

"A house with a rear courtyard. Main room, two side rooms, two wing rooms. But the courtyard itself has to be large." Wayne thought for a moment. His requirements matched the estate of an ordinary minor noble household. The one standout was the courtyard, his future cultivation ground for growing spirit plants. It needed real space.

"In that case, a few million silver rings should do it."

"What if it's closer to the Fourth Division?"

"There should be options, though the price would tick up. How about this, tonight I'll have someone look into it. We'll cap the budget at whatever your top-eight prize is worth. Add in your share of the winnings, and that should cover it."

"Then I'll leave it in your hands, Mizusue-dono." Wayne dipped his head in a small bow. "I'll give the next match everything I've got."

"Well, well... just do what you can. If you're unlucky enough to draw either of those two, stepping back when the moment calls for it is fine. Even if you lose in the end, we still walk away with money. No need to obsess over winning or losing."

"Understood." Wayne nodded.

Truth be told, by the quarterfinals, he'd already cleaned up. Tonics, spirit plants, cash, all of it added up to meet his projections. If he could push further and claim those Reiryoku armor sets, he could either equip them or flip them for a solid return. Either way worked.

With money in hand, Wayne naturally wanted to start building his own estate. He couldn't cultivate at full capacity in the squad barracks, and the school dormitory was packed, teachers included. He couldn't push things too far there. But with his own place, it would be just him and Momo. Someday, Shiro-chan and Granny might move in too, but that was three years off, after Shiro-chan passed the Shin'ō Academy entrance exam. Until then, Wayne would have the estate to himself, free to absorb Reishi and build his strength.

For now, though, the matches came first.

The next day, Wayne returned to the arena. The night had passed without any retaliation from the Nishikawa clan. Clearly, the Shiba Family crest had done its work. The flip side: a number of mid-tier and minor noble families that would ordinarily have extended an olive branch had all been scared off by that same crest.

A first-year student fighting his way into the top eight of a sixth-year bracket, that kind of dominance naturally drew noble attention. But with the Shiba Family, one of the Four Great Noble Houses, already making a move, no one else dared step in. Losing out on gift-bearers was a minor cost; it also underscored Wayne's worth. Combined with his Ranking Tournament performance, his future prospects were limitless.

The quarterfinals. Sure enough, under noble maneuvering, the eight remaining competitors were re-seeded. The two noble-backed contestants drew the first match. Wayne was paired against a commoner for the second. Yagami Kina faced a scion of an Eleventh Division family. And then, Kitagawa Sawa against Ōtsuka Goetsu.

Kitagawa Sawa was the commoner representative. Ōtsuka Goetsu was of noble descent. Wayne couldn't immediately make sense of the arrangement. Ordinarily, to maximize their heirs' rankings, the nobles should have engineered a matchup between Wayne and Kitagawa Sawa at this stage. But after thinking it through, he understood. The nobility wasn't a unified bloc, they were divided into competing factions. When it came to undercutting a rival, the placement of commoner contestants became a lever. If a faction hostile to the Ōtsuka family had arranged the brackets, throwing Kitagawa, a powerhouse, into Ōtsuka's path made perfect sense.

That suited Wayne fine. It gave him a real shot at second place. Which meant more prize money.

The sixth-year matches were still held last, but the earlier bouts didn't drag, and by the time Wayne stepped onto the arena, it was just past midday.

He climbed onto the stage. His opponent this time was a sixth-year senior of commoner origin: Hatsuhi Keita. Handsome face, open brow, the kind of person who seemed good-natured. But the moment his hand closed around his Zanpakutō, his entire bearing shifted. One second, warm sunlight. The next, a blazing volcano. His whole body radiated the feel of an imminent explosion.

Just like his Zanpakutō's name.

Sekiyō.

A red obsidian blade that held the power of detonation. Pour Reiatsu into it, and every strike carried tremendous explosive force.

Wayne already had the intel. He had no intention of taking Hatsuhi Keita head-on. The match began, and Wayne pressed forward with an aggressive assault. Hatsuhi Keita raised his blade to meet him, as a sixth-year, his swordsmanship was far from lacking. After the first few exchanges, Hatsuhi Keita surged with force, sent Wayne stumbling back, and immediately began chanting his Zanpakutō's release incantation.

Hearing it from across the field, Wayne retreated fast and shifted into evasion mode.

Released, Sekiyō transformed into an enormous greatsword, taller than a man by a full head. Its already overwhelming power multiplied several times over in an instant. But for all that crushing, ponderous force, it flailed uselessly against Wayne's nimble footwork. His Shunpo still wasn't fully refined, but it had long since surpassed any ordinary student's.

Still, Hatsuhi Keita hadn't made the top eight by being easy. He swung his Zanpakutō in a wide horizontal sweep, and a slash wave packed with explosive force flew straight at Wayne. Even if Wayne could dodge the slash itself, there was no escaping the scorching shockwave that detonated in the air.

Getting burned was unavoidable.

Seeing his attacks land, Hatsuhi Keita swung faster and faster. Eventually the waves of blade energy formed a vast, interconnected net of explosions, trapping Wayne at the center.

"Sekiyō — Chain Burst!"

At last, Hatsuhi Keita unleashed a technique he'd held back the entire tournament. He drove the greatsword into the ground and wrenched it upward. The ground Sekiyō raked split and cracked in all directions. Debris saturated with Reiatsu surged up around Wayne, leaving him nowhere to run.

A rapid chain of explosions rang out. Wayne was swallowed instantly by searing smoke. For a long moment, no trace of him could be seen.

"Hatsuhi Keita, a standout among commoners." Up on the highest viewing platform, Old Man Yamamoto watched the Zanpakutō churning with flame and explosive power and gave a quiet nod.

"That sixth-year student seems to place near the top of every exam." Gin Ichimaru murmured from behind Aizen. "Rumor has it the Captain-Commander is considering him for the First Division. One wonders if it has to do with his Zanpakutō's ability."

"No matter. He was never my prey." Aizen's deep gaze was well concealed behind his glasses, unreadable. "Now, this blind student, he has begun to interest me. He appears more ambitious than I anticipated. And he has the ability to match."

"Heh? I distinctly recall Aizen-sama saying just a few days ago that he wouldn't last past the top eight." Gin Ichimaru immediately pulled the rug out.

"Strength is not simply a matter of Reiatsu. Technique, timing, ability, how they influence a fight. Persuasion, consolidation, finding resources, these are the means by which one grows stronger. He's only just enrolled in Shin'ō Academy, and already he's secured the Shiba Family's support, shielding himself from being pushed out before the top eight by the nobility. One must acknowledge, he understands very well how to use external forces to achieve his goals. That is what allows him to advance further in the Ranking Tournament. And what will allow him to advance further in the Gotei 13." The corner of Aizen's mouth curved faintly upward. "By the way, Gin, regarding your promotion to Captain of the Third Division. How are the preparations?"

"The bait is set. Just waiting for the fish to bite." Gin Ichimaru was briefly caught off guard by the sudden shift, but he didn't dwell on it. His gaze returned to the arena.

"Good." Aizen's mouth lifted. "Then let us continue to watch, and see just how far this blind young man will grow."

"Hah... hah..."

Down on the arena floor, Hatsuhi Keita was gulping air. He knew exactly how powerful his Zanpakutō was, and exactly how much Reiatsu a wide-area technique of that scale consumed. All he could do now was wait for the smoke to clear, lest the scorching embers burn him too.

His all-out strike. A technique he'd never once shown the world. A move he'd been saving for Kitagawa Sawa. And he'd been forced to spend it early, on Wayne. Through the battle, Hatsuhi Keita had come to understand that his opponent already had full intel on his abilities. That was why Wayne had been evading the whole time, refusing to clash directly, bleeding him dry of Reiatsu until he collapsed on his own.

So Hatsuhi Keita had no choice. He deployed the wide-area technique he'd kept hidden. And the result appeared to be exactly as he'd predicted. Wayne, swallowed by the blast, buried in smoke and dust.

"Is that... a new combat technique Hatsuhi Keita developed?" The students in the stands were shaken. His classmates especially, stunned by that sudden, breathtaking display.

"Incredible. Took out that first-year in one blow."

"As expected of a top-eight competitor. Finally, our sixth year doesn't have to be looked down on by a first-year."

"That Tsukishiro Hinamori — you think that move killed him?"

The murmuring spread. Most had already concluded that Wayne was either gravely injured or dead inside that explosion net. But when they noticed the referee making no move to intervene, their guesses began to lean toward the former.

And yet,

BOOM!

Before Hatsuhi Keita could even catch his breath, a column of pale blue Reiatsu erupted from within the scorching haze. The surrounding smoke blew apart in an instant. And the students in the stands could now see the silhouette standing at the heart of that pillar of light.

"It's Tsukishiro — he's alive! He's using his secret technique!"

At the arena's center, Wayne's Reiatsu detonated. That densely compressed pressure boiled and surged outward like water over flame, sending ripple after ripple of faint spiritual energy rolling in every direction.

The Reiatsu climbed relentlessly, pressing down on Hatsuhi Keita. Already running close to empty, he was forced to raise his blade just to keep from being swept off his feet.

"You're strong." Wayne's gaze, his whole body covered in burns, was now flooded with Reiatsu. "But I'm sorry. I have a reason I can't lose."

The words fell. Wayne swept his katana in a horizontal slash. A massive blade wave broke free and hurtled straight toward Hatsuhi Keita.

BOOM!

The explosion rang out, Hatsuhi Keita had swung Sekiyō, the detonating force shattering Wayne's blade wave. But the slash itself knocked him back several meters. Only Sekiyō's sheer weight let him barely hold his ground.

"Hmph. If that blade wave is the limit of your power, you won't be winning today."

"Blade wave? No." Even as Hatsuhi Keita spoke, Wayne had already crossed the distance in two steps of Shunpo, reappearing directly behind him. His voice was quiet. "That wasn't a blade wave. That was just ordinary sword pressure."

"What?"

"This — is my Sword Gleam Slash."

The words barely left his mouth before Wayne brought his blade down at close range, a vertical slash, fully loaded with Reiatsu. The vast, crescent-shaped edge of light surged forward like a great sweep of white silk, bent on cleaving Hatsuhi Keita in two.

Watching the blade wave bear down on him, Hatsuhi Keita, already running on empty, could no longer hold against the crushing pressure. He shouted without hesitation.

"I concede!"

BANG!

A tremendous crack shook the entire arena. The referee's blade came down and shattered Wayne's wave.

With the referee's intervention, the match came to a close.

"Quarterfinals — Tsukishiro Hinamori wins!"

➤ Next: Yagami China