“Captain Isshin, it’s your time to shine!
Go get ’em!” Kaito Yanagawa urged in an easygoing tone, even sounding a bit encouraging.
Isshin Shiba nearly stumbled at those words.
He snatched a quick glance backward, glaring at Yanagawa, who stood arms crossed at the edge of the battlefield enjoying the show.
His voice sounded utterly exasperated over the howling blizzard.
“Huh?!
Me?!
What about you, Yanagawa?!
Don’t just stand there watching!
This was your idea!”
Faced with Isshin’s accusation, Yanagawa didn’t bat an eye, replying with a tone both matter-of-fact and mildly perfunctory.
“Don’t worry.
I’ll provide support based on how the situation develops.”
“Support?!” Isshin yelled back.
“What kind of support?
Cheering me on with your eyes?!”
“Tactical observation is a crucial form of support.
I’m analyzing that golden power.
You just focus on going all out and applying pressure to force more of it out.”
Isshin: “…”
He saw right through it.
Yanagawa was simply using “observation and analysis” as an excuse to push a ready-made captain-level bruiser onto the front lines.
With Isshin holding the line, Yanagawa was more than happy to sit back in safety, gathering data and studying the opponent at his leisure.
“You little…
fine, you win!” Isshin gritted his teeth, shattering a sneak-attacking icicle as he cursed Yanagawa a thousand times over in his head.
Griping aside, he knew Yanagawa had a point.
Right now, Hyōrinmaru was berserk, knowing only mindless aggression.
Engaging in close-quarters combat carried heavy risks; they genuinely needed someone to tie him down from the front to create opportunities to observe and identify weaknesses.
“Fine!
I’ll be the pack mule just this once!” Isshin steeled his resolve, no longer expecting Yanagawa to step into the ring anytime soon.
Having missed his strike, Hyōrinmaru seemed incensed—or perhaps he was forcibly drawing upon even more power.
His frost-scaled, dragon-clawed feet sank slightly, and the blizzard swirling around him intensified at once, congealing countless razor-sharp icicles in the freezing air.
“Tch, looks like I don’t have a choice!” Isshin spat.
Wiping away his usual boisterous grin, a blazing fighting spirit surged in its place.
Stepping forward, his right hand clamped firmly onto the hilt of the Zanpakuto at his waist.
Just as the next volley of icicles was about to rain down upon him, Isshin’s eyes flared with sharp resolve.
“Burn—”
*Boom!*
A scorching spiritual pressure erupted from within Isshin like a long-dormant volcano!
Domineering and searing hot, the spiritual pressure instantly banished the encroaching cold and scorched a circle of charred ground beneath his feet.
It clashed violently with Hyōrinmaru’s absolute freezing aura in an irreconcilable conflict, the air crackling and popping as reishi violently collided.
“—Engetsu!”
As the release command echoed, the Zanpakuto in Isshin’s hand transformed drastically!
The blade was enveloped in an ultra-condensed sheath of crimson flames that flowed like liquid fire, forming a blazing fiery blade!
Wherever the edge passed, the air warped under rolling waves of heat, creating a magnificent spectacle of two diametrically opposed worlds of ice and fire.
A flame-type Zanpakuto: Engetsu!
Natural antithesis to Hyōrinmaru’s ice, like fire and water!
“Haaah!”
Confronted with the dense barrage of icicles hurtling toward him, Isshin advanced instead of retreating.
The flaming Engetsu cleaved a scorching crescent through the air!
“Flame Slash!”
A crimson blade of concentrated fire roared forth, carrying a will that sought to reduce everything to ash as it slammed directly into the incoming storm of icicles.
*Sizzle—!
Hiss, hiss, hiss—!*
Everywhere the flame wave traveled, the razor-sharp icicles melted and vaporized, turning into billowing plumes of scalding white steam that blanketed half the battlefield and obscured vision.
Yet the flame slash did not slow, slicing straight toward Hyōrinmaru behind the volley!
Hyōrinmaru seemed utterly repulsed by the scorching heat and let out a low growl.
*Crack-crack-crack—!*
Centering on Hyōrinmaru, countless massive, magnificent petals of ice instantly coalesced.
Layer upon layer, they formed an extraordinarily dense wall of frozen petals before him.
*Boom!*
The crimson flame blade slammed viciously into the petal wall!
Searing heat and absolute zero, roaring flames and crystal frost—two diametrically opposed and mutually canceling forces violently collided and annihilated one another!
The ice wall shuddered violently as vast swaths of ice petals exploded and vaporized, only for fresh petals to continuously sprout and reinforce the gap.
The flame blade rapidly lost luster, ultimately burning through nearly half the wall before expending its energy and shattering into a cloud of sparks.
Dead even!
Or rather, considering elemental advantage and resistance, the fact that Isshin’s fire slash had carved so deep into Hyōrinmaru’s defense was testament enough to its raw power.
“Oh ho!
Not bad!” Isshin bellowed with laughter.
Free of fear, his battle spirit surged even higher.
Blurring into motion, he charged straight at Hyōrinmaru, Engetsu trailing a searing wake of fire!
As the captain of Squad 10, Isshin Shiba was indisputably among the upper echelon of the Gotei 13 captains.
His fighting style was bold, sweeping, and aggressively direct, while Engetsu’s flames granted him peerless destructive power and explosive bursts.
“Flame Fang: Thrust!”
Midair, Isshin gripped Engetsu with both hands, pointing the blade tip-first.
Merging into one with his Zanpakuto, he transformed into a crimson meteor of fire, hurtling straight into the still-recovering wall of ice petals!
This time, it was a strike of concentrated, pinpoint penetration!
“Flock of Icicles!”
The remains of the ice petal wall blasted apart, erupting into a swarm of razor-sharp icicles as nimble as bees, blanketing the sky as they swarmed down toward the flaming meteor that was Isshin Shiba!
The tip of each icicle gleamed with an icy sheen capable of freezing spiritual energy itself.
An attack answered by an attack!
“Bring it on!” Isshin roared.
Without slackening his charge in the slightest, the fire cloaking Engetsu compressed inward, shifting from crimson to a blinding, near-white azure as its temperature skyrocketed!
Swinging Engetsu, he spun it into a brilliant, incandescent wheel of light.
Like a miniature sun, the blazing wheel crashed violently into the dense swarm of icicles!
A relentless barrage of hissing and sizzling rang out as icicles were continually vaporized, yet their numbers were endless, pressing forward wave upon wave.
The spinning wheel began to slow, its radiant brilliance dimming.
Finally, after melting the lion’s share of the icicles, the light wheel dispersed.
Isshin emerged from the billowing steam looking slightly disheveled.
He skidded back several paces across the ground before steadying his stance, flecks of frost clinging to his clothing, though his gaze remained as fierce as fire.
The icicles were completely depleted as well.
In their first head-on exchange, neither side had gained the upper hand.
“Whew…
Even out of his mind, this guy is a real pain.” Isshin shook out his slightly numb arm as the flames on Engetsu stabilized back to crimson.
He could tell that Hyōrinmaru possessed an extraordinarily high level of power and absolute mastery over ice.
Had it not been for his own formidable strength, he likely would have come out the worse in that clash.
What’s more, the materialized spirit seemed entirely unconcerned with conserving reiryoku or using tactics, fighting purely on rampant, berserk instinct.