Bleach: Awakened — Chapter 39 - Fateful Confrontation (Part One)

"What sharp perception!"

The newcomer's tone held admiration, yet something about it crawled under the skin. A female Soul Reaper walked behind, expressionless, striking.

"A captain..." Uryu stepped back slightly, a spirit bow materializing in hand. "I'd already suppressed my spiritual pressure to its lowest. How did you find me."

A chance encounter would have been one thing. But this Soul Reaper captain moved like someone who already knew exactly where Uryu was, no escort, no urgency. Completely at ease.

"This is Seireitei. The Soul Reaper headquarters." A beat. "Did you really think we'd have nothing in place?"

"I see... surveillance equipment. Hidden cameras, that sort of thing."

"Something like that." A bizarre smile spread across Mayuri Kurotsuchi's face. "I am the captain of Squad 12, Mayuri Kurotsuchi. State your name, Quincy."

"Uryu Ishida." Flat. "Honestly, I had no desire to run into one of your captains this early."

"Uryu Ishida..." Those yellow pupils brimmed with mockery. "Noted. I'll make sure to record your name properly in the Quincy research archives!"

"...A mad scientist." Uryu shook his head. "You want to study a Quincy—why not go after Ichigo? The one with the orange hair."

"Hah. Just as I thought." Another shake of the head. "You Soul Reapers really are something. Spineless in front of anyone powerful, and throwing everything you have at anyone who seems even slightly weaker. The worst traits of a long-lived species, on full display."

There was no refuting that. Not even a little.

The Squad 12 surveillance footage had captured the moment Ichigo cut down Gin Ichimaru, and Mayuri had reviewed it countless times. Not a single idea had surfaced, no method, no angle, no way to defeat Ichigo and make a specimen of him.

Worse, Ichigo's whereabouts had effectively gone dark. After the fight with Gin, surveillance feeds had vanished one after another, capturing nothing. No images. No data.

As Director of the Research and Development Department, Mayuri understood exactly what that meant. The devices had been found and crushed, by spiritual pressure, or something else, before they could ever lock onto that person.

Against a monster like that, even if located, Mayuri felt certain there was nothing to be done. And enlisting other captains, setting aside whether they would even cooperate, wouldn't help either. Even if they did, even if the battle ended in victory, the target would never end up as usable research material.

"How dull!" Uryu shook his head and moved to dismiss the spirit bow. "Someone like you almost certainly can't measure my current strength."

"...What do you mean."

"I can't speak for the others, but my primary reason for coming to Soul Society is to measure my own strength—through you Soul Reapers." A faint smile touched the corner of Uryu's mouth. "After all, Kuchiki's life was guaranteed the moment Ichigo set foot in this world."

"Such confidence, Quincy." Mayuri's tone carried genuine surprise. "The quincy I know kept their convictions on their lips constantly, what they called the pride of the Quincy."

"Hah." A cool smile. "Someone like you could never understand the honor of a Quincy."

"True, I really can't." Mayuri shrugged. "By the time I was handling them, quincy had already become quite scarce. And those who remained were all rather weak, only marginally stronger than ordinary Soul Reapers."

"Hah."

"Still." That bizarre, unhinged smile stretched wider as the words came slowly. "I do remember the last Quincy who fell under my watch. An old man, fighting a Hollow alone. When I discovered him, I deliberately told the Soul Reapers sent to assist to slow down. Let him die at the Hollow's hands."

"I still remember it. At the very end, that old man kept calling out a name. Sounded like his apprentice's... ah, let me think..."

"Ah, yes. Something like... Ishida something." The madness deepened. The smile sent a chill running bone-deep. "That wouldn't happen to be your master, would it? Uryu."

BOOM!

A terrifying blue spiritual pressure erupted skyward. The spirit bow blazed with the most intense light it had ever produced since the moment of its creation. Uryu's face held not a trace of emotion.

But those eyes burned with fury.

"Soul Reaper..." The killing intent wasn't loud. It was pure. Uryu's gaze locked onto Mayuri and didn't move. "I'm going to kill you."

"Whoa!" That spiritual pressure, matching a Soul Reaper captain's, and Mayuri didn't flinch. The delight on that face only grew. "Such frightening spiritual pressure at such a young age... you must be something exceptional even among quincy?! What outstanding research material!"

"Die."

Uryu drew the bow. This one radiated a blue spirit-particle glow completely unlike the bow before, a shortbow, its limbs tipped with two outward-pointing arrowheads.

WHOOSH,

The spirit arrow was gone the instant it appeared. Against the previous bow, the speed and scale weren't comparable. Both were several times greater.

"So fast!"

Mayuri called out and activated Shunpo, clearing the strike, and in the same motion drew the Zanpakuto at the hip.

"Spread your claws—Ashisogi Jizo!"

The release command spoken, the ordinary blade transformed. Three golden prongs. At the juncture of hilt and blade, a child's face appeared, grotesque, utterly wrong.

"A Zanpakuto release."

Uryu activated Hirenkyaku and pulled back from Mayuri. Zanpakuto abilities were endlessly strange, and this captain was clearly an eccentric. Whatever that ability was, it wouldn't be anything straightforward.

"Hah." Mockery in Mayuri's voice. "Weren't you going to kill me? What's with the distance, has your fear already surpassed your killing intent?"

"Necessary caution. Nothing more." Uryu's voice stayed level. "Rest assured. I will kill you."

Uryu drew again. The arrow that flew was stronger than the last. The spirit-particle density in the air dipped slightly, for a Quincy who fought by drawing on ambient particles, Soul Society's concentration, so far exceeding the World of the Living, was an enormous advantage.

"Hah!"

A cold snort. Mayuri raised the blade and slashed down hard. Not the most combat-capable of captains, but that was only relative. Against a Quincy just starting out, surely this was?!

The body stepped back involuntarily. The arrow's force far exceeded what Mayuri had calculated. The hand gripping the Zanpakuto trembled. Faint cracks ran across the blade.

"A fearsome strike." The mockery was gone. Mayuri's expression went fully serious. "Indeed, for someone who runs with a monster like that, you are without question a monster among quincy yourself."

"And this is only the beginning."

Third draw. Uryu's face remained cold and distant. The radiance on the bow kept building, growing stronger with every breath.

➤ Next: Fated Showdown (Part Two)