章 13: After Flash

Shen, who was still fighting Hiyori was currently thinking. 'I didn't want to show this in front of the Vizards, but whatever it will be worth it in the end.' Hiyori, who was charging a cero fired once again straight at Shen only for him to dodge, hitting the barrier before disappearing. If not for the barrier that had been set up previously, the whole warehouse would have long collapsed.

Shen jumped into the air throwing a medium-sized Ki Blast straight down towards the ground. The explosion wasn't powerful, but power wasn't what Shen was after. The moment the Ki Blast hit the ground, a large cloud of smoke covered the area Shen was standing. He was undetectable in this world by normal means meaning soul reapers would have to rely on there reflexes and eyes rather than sensing him.

However, Shen, on the other hand, could sense them perfectly fine using Ki while he couldn't detect how strong of the people around him he can get a basic understanding of there positions compared to his own. This was one of the reasons he was avoiding learning Kido or getting a Zanpakuto. When he learned Kirin, he was given Chakra by the system meaning if he got a Zanpakuto, he would be given Spiritual Pressure ruining this advantage.

Picking up a stone on the ground, Shen stayed in the smoke forcing Hiyori to pause her offensive and start searching for Shen. She only had so much time she could remain in her hollow form, and she couldn't waste it by firing Ceros blindly. "Hey! Stop hiding and fight you, coward!" Screaming out, Hiyori got no response, which just made her more agitated.

'You little!' Shen heard Hiyori, which made him grit his teeth. 'Let's see whos a coward after this.' Suddenly something flew towards Hiyori out of the smoke. "So, you finally showed yourself, huh?" Slicing towards the object coming towards her, Hiyori saw that it was just a rock. Slicing it in half, the two sides of the rock fell to the ground behind her.

'He's throwing rocks at me now?' At this point, Hiyori was confused as she saw something else fly out of the smoke. Looking at it, she saw it was just another rock. All the other Vizards who were watching were starting to think Shen was out of ideas and had just given up. Kensei spoke up, looking at the situation. "This is sad. If you're going to fall as low as hiding and throwing rocks, you might as well give up."

That being said, Hiyori didn't waste her energy and simply dodged the stone, lowering her guard for just an instant. Shinji, who was planning to stop the fight, suddenly halted. 'Maybe I don't have to interfere after all.' From an outside perspective, it looked though the battle was over. Suddenly Shinji's eyes opened wide as he looked behind Hiyori.

"You let your guard down, Hiyori." Shen had earlier placed a mark on the two stones he threw. If the first stone wasn't blocked, he planned to teleport to it and perform this move. Sadly, Hiyori was too cautious, so he threw a second one, and this time, she simply dodged, letting her guard down.

Smiling, Shen pulled back his arm before launching his palm forward into Hiyori's back. The impact vibrated through her spine, making her feel her consciousness slip for a moment. With no delay, he spun around while Hiyori was still stunned. Shen spun around her and hit once again, sending another strike into her chest. All of this happened in only a few seconds.

'This fight is over.' The two strikes caused Hiyori's already fractured ribs to almost snap. With Hiyori out of it, Shen grabbed her leg, pulling her back before tossing her across the floor. It was during this Hiyori finally managed to focus herself landing on the ground and stabbing her blade into the ground, slowing her down.

"Hiyori, this fight is over, just give up." Shen, who was having a hard time with Hiyori just a bit ago, was now calm as could be, and his confidence was brimming. Panting heavily Hiyori out of breath and was covered in bruises. Out the side of her mouth, fresh blood flowed. "This fight... This fight is over... When I say, it's over!"

Ignoring the immense pain, Hiyori charged up a Cero. She poured all of her power into this attack. Looking at her, Shen closed his eyes and shook his head while sighing. Opening his eyes lazily, his smile disappeared from his face. "Fine ill show you then." From the tone of his voice, Shinji and the other Vizards knew Shen was planning to end this fight here and now. "Hiyori! Stop the fight." Shinji immediately called out, but Hiyori ignored him.

"Now you-" Hiyori was cut off from suddenly seeing Shen disappear. "The moment those two strikes hit, this fight was over." Hiyori couldn't understand what was happening to her as she suddenly felt pain all over her body. Her Cero was disrupted and disappeared. All she could see at this moment was Shen everywhere.

This was the move named After Flash by Shen. It was created by combining Flying Thunder God and After Image. Combining the two of them with his natural speed, he could confuse his opponent by creating dozens of copies of himself while striking at the same time.

Initially, he would throw an object with a mark to perform this move, but its real power is demonstrated when the marks are placed directly on the opponent's body. The only downside of doing it this way is the fact he would need to put two marks on his opponent minimally for the technique to work the more marks, the better.

Shen placed two marks on Hiyori, one on her back and the other on her chest. Using After Flash Shen was untraceable, Hiyori couldn't escape if she wanted too. 'If one strike at full power isn't enough, then I'll just beat you until I get a notification.' Hiyori's body continued to fly within the space of the barrier, with Shen beating her like a pinata smacking her until the XP came out.

Looking at them, Shinji didn't move for a moment. 'What the hell is that. This isn't just super speed this is...' Looking at this sight the Vizards started to move as Hachigen opened up the barrier all the Vizards charged forward without any hesitation only to see Shen had finally stopped. He held Hiyori in the air by her shirt.

[Hiyori Sarugaki Defeated. Reward: 33325 XP and 167 SP]

'What!' This was the first time Shen had made more than ten thousand XP in a single battle, let alone 167 SP. 'I wonder how much I would have gotten if I had killed her instead.' While attacking Hiyori, the thought did cross his mind, but he restrained himself.

They saw his ability to teleport, and each of them was around Captain level with some being captains before even if he managed to escape the chance of the Vizards suddenly attacking him was something he didn't feel like dealing with. With that looking down at Shinji, he threw Hiyori towards him and disappeared from the Warehouse.

"Hiyori! Hiyori!" Shinji looked down at Hiyori, who was in his arms. 'Dam it! I should have intervened sooner!' Seeing Shen throwing rocks made him question his worries, and by the time Shen had begun using his After Flash, Shinji was too late. Turning to Hachigen, Shinji brought Hiyori to him and laid her on the ground.

Looking down, Hachigen held out his hands and said. "Luckily, he only left her unconscious, and there shouldn't be any permanent injuries, however." Hachigen felt something foreign on Hiyori that he couldn't identify. "I don't know what he did, but there is something on Hiyori. I'm guessing he put it there during their fight."

Shinji couldn't help but think back to the moment Shen suddenly appeared behind Hiyori. 'Can he teleport, or is it something else?' Looking at Hiyori, Lisa spoke. "I wasn't expecting him to be so strong. We shouldn't have let him fight Hiyori." Love also spoke. "Well, we don't know where he went. He vanished, and without us being able to sense his spiritual pressure, there is no way we can find him in this town."

Shinji remained silent, staring at Hiyori while his mind began to race. 'What is he.'