"You bastard... who the hell are you?!"

Renji Abarai dropped into a low crouch, staring hard at Uryu. That last arrow had been a cheap shot, but the force behind it was no joke.

"Uryu Ishida. Just a Quincy." Uryu adjusted his glasses. "And you, Soul Reaper?"

"Renji Abarai." Renji tightened his grip on his Zanpakuto. "Burn that name into your memory, Quincy! It belongs to the man who's about to kill you!"

"You're funny," Uryu said, shaking his head. "Looks like another muscle-head who doesn't get the situation."

"Who're you calling an idiot?!" Renji's spiritual pressure exploded outward. "Roar, Zabimaru!"

The Zanpakuto in his hand transformed. The blade swelled, and six jagged barbs jutted from its edge.

"A Zanpakuto release... first time I've seen one."

"Feel honored! Die beneath Zabimaru!"

Roaring, Renji swung. Before Uryu's eyes, the blade stretched out, the elongated segments spinning through the air in a wide arc.

"So it's like a whip now?"

Unhurried, blue light bloomed beneath Uryu's feet. In the next instant, Uryu was airborne, the bow of light blazing in hand. Uryu drew the string with the left hand, and a blue arrow materialized.

"Shunpo? No—that's different!"

Renji poured power into his right hand again, and the extended Zabimaru snapped back to its original form. Before he could swing again, the arrow was already in front of his face.

"Damn it—"

"You were careless, Renji."

Compared to Zabimaru's massive blade, the sword that intercepted the arrow looked plain. But that plain sword cut the arrow of light clean in two.

"Captain..." Renji lowered his head, shame written across his face. "Yes! I was careless!"

"This isn't entirely your fault." The Captain of Squad 6, Byakuya Kuchiki, kept his eyes locked on the figure in the sky. "The enemy is a Quincy, a clan said to have been wiped out. And from the look of it, his strength is at least lieutenant-level."

"Yes..."

"Get serious. Take him down," Byakuya said calmly. "Quincy or not, attacking us unprovoked is crime enough."

"Yes, Captain!"

"Big words... from a Soul Reaper Captain." Uryu's lips twisted. "Get off your high horse! Bastard!"

"...!"

Blue light flared again. Arrows shot forward at blinding speed, but not just one. Countless shafts rained down together, a deluge of light, dense and magnificent.

"My spirit bow is called Ginrei Kojaku. Its Heilig Pfeil rapid-fire count is one thousand two hundred."

Spiritual pressure surged as the rain of light continued for several seconds. One thousand two hundred arrows struck, kicking up billows of white smoke.

"This...!"

Rukia stared in disbelief. She'd known Uryu Ishida was strong, but she'd never imagined Uryu's full power was this overwhelming. Not a single one of those Heilig Pfeil was something an ordinary Soul Reaper could deflect.

BOOM,

"Impressive power."

A massive wave of spiritual pressure erupted, instantly clearing the smoke. There stood Byakuya Kuchiki, holding a hilt with no blade. Around him, countless cherry blossoms seemed to drift and dance, but a closer look revealed a thousand razor-sharp blades.

"To think you'd force out my Senbonzakura," Byakuya said calmly. "Human, you are strong."

SWISH,

With a thought, the thousand blades, invisible to the naked eye, sprang into motion, shooting toward Uryu.

"Another Zanpakuto release, is it?"

Not a trace of fear. Uryu's left hand drew the string again. As Uryu's spiritual pressure rose, a rain of light even heavier than before filled the sky.

RAT-TAT-TAT,

One by one, the arrows knocked the blades out of the air. Within seconds, every blade lay scattered on the ground, and the final volley vanished.

"..." Byakuya narrowed his eyes. His spiritual pressure surged again, and the fallen blades rose back into the air. "How many times can you keep that up?"

"As long as it takes," Uryu said with a confident smirk, drawing the string once more. "Unlike you Soul Reapers, we Quincy draw on external spirit?!"

"Don't you forget about me! Bastard!"

A furious roar cut Uryu off. Renji Abarai was back, appearing right behind Uryu with Zabimaru lashing out.

"Santen Kesshun! I reject!"

A triangular orange shield of light materialized behind Uryu. With a sharp clang, Zabimaru slammed into the barrier. The blade went limp, snapping back to its sealed state, while the shield barely trembled.

"And you... who the hell are you?!"

"Orihime Inoue." The shield dispersed and flew back to Orihime, returning to the six-flower hairpin in Orihime's hair. "A friend of Kuchiki-san's."

BOOM,

Before the words had fully landed, a crimson fist slammed square into Renji's face, sending him flying back several meters.

"That's payback," Yasutora Sado said, flexing his fist. "You almost got Ishida just now."

"You bastard... who the hell are you people?!"

"Yasutora Sado. Rukia's friend, and mine too." With a long black blade strapped to his back and a short blade at his waist, Soul Reaper Ichigo made his entrance. "I'm Ichigo Kurosaki, the boss of Karakura Town!"

"...What do you mean, 'boss'..." Renji wiped blood from the corner of his mouth, pretty sure his cheekbone was fractured. "You humans... do you have any idea that attacking Soul Reapers is a capital offense?!"

"Boss means the top dog in these parts," Ichigo said, arms folded like a mob kingpin. "Karakura Town is under my protection, got it? I don't care about the Soul Society or your Soul Reaper rules. Once you're here, my rules are the rules!"

"Ichigo! Stand down!"

Now that the core figure had arrived, Rukia could finally speak. She was on good terms with Uryu, but she couldn't exactly rein in that aloof, fiercely proud Quincy.

"'Stand down'..." Orihime murmured. "Shouldn't it be 'stop fighting'... why does she make it sound like we're actually in a gang..."

"It's about presence! Presence!" Ichigo said, completely unbothered. "Isn't it great? Makes us look totally badass!"

"But... it feels a little weird..."

"Nothing weird about it." Uryu dropped down beside Ichigo. "He's just a muscle-head. Probably watched some movie recently and thought it looked cool."

"You bastards... don't push your luck!"

Fuming at being completely ignored, Renji's rage boiled over. Renji's spiritual pressure spiked to its absolute peak, easily matching, and faintly surpassing, an ordinary lieutenant.

Zabimaru howled silently, as if sharing its master's fury, the shriek of it tearing through the air louder than before.

"If it weren't for Rukia—?!"

Not just Renji, even Byakuya's eyes went wide. Ichigo thrust out his right hand and caught the furious strike bare-handed.

CRACK!

A sudden burst of spiritual pressure. His grip clamped down. Ichigo snapped Zabimaru clean in two with his bare hand.

", you'd already be dead."

➤ Next: Recruiting an Army and Taking on Underlings