Chương 14: Chapter 14: First Mission (3)

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

Remember to join the discord! discord.gg/yFMYSWxaUY

AN: I won't be using *_* for Sound Effects anymore, I don't fancy the way it looks.

Chapter 14: First Mission (3)

'Lieutenant?' Koda pondered, the distinctive title combined with the fact that Tomio somehow had the ability to evade his senses put him on edge. He had primitively considered haphazardly rushing the individual, but on second thought the idea didn't seem all that wise.

Noticing Koda's hesitation, Tomio dipped his head in stark disappointment. "Ah, perhaps I shouldn't have let that part slip out, I was hoping you'd take me for fodder and charge me like those pitiful excuses for subordinates" A soft chuckle echoed throughout the room as Tomio put his palm to his forehead in spurious shame.

The macabre laughter came to an abrupt halt, Tomio's expression stiffened as if he had come to some sort of decision. "Alright, I believe we can come to some form of agreement here" Koda callously rolled his eyes, he had come here for a fight— not a speech.

In the back of his mind he had hoped Tomio was someone who could appreciate a good battle, but his instincts told him he was more the schemer type.

"How about this, if you let me kill you right this instant— I'll make your death painless, it'll save us both time no?" Koda remained expressionless as he eyed Tomio with chagrin.

"For a Lieutenant your ability to taunt is awfully feeble, or are you just trying to compensate for your angst?" By no stretch of the imagination was Koda the most intelligent person around, but reading emotions was most definitely within his skillset.

Despite being on a completely different level than the five Soul Reapers he had slain, Koda was far more accustomed to fighting one on one than against multiple opponents, and coordinated ones to boot. The amount of focus he could retain had considerably increased.

"Me? Afraid of you?" The corners of Tomio's lips dipped downwards. The atmosphere grew heavy as his Spiritual Pressure finally conferred itself, Koda's Asauchi immediately began to tremor. "Even as a joke, that's not remotely funny" The mere notion that Tomio could feel dread insulted him to the core.

Koda's signature grin finally manifested, the lumbering weight of Tomio's Reiryoku reminded him of when he first met Okita. 'How nostalgic!' He thought to himself heatedly as he reminisced.

The Lieutenant spread his palm, aiming it towards Koda as he murmured something intelligible with a distinct scowl on his face.

"Hadō #4: Byakurai" He breathed.

A concentrated streak of pale lightning darted towards Koda, its faint beryl glow reflected in his iris. Tomio smirked as he watched the inevitable collision, he could tell Koda barely had any experience with Kido from the way he conducted himself, there was no way he'd be able to handle the impact.

Crash!

Koda erupted in a cloud of dust from where he stood, The Lieutenant blithely took a few steps towards the staircase — believing the threat to be buried.

Before he could take the third stride, the sound of floorboards creaking and a low raspy cackle stopped him in his tracks. "Leaving already?" The voice taunted.

Tomio's grimace deepened, the robust fluctuations of Reiryoku in the atmosphere suggested a rather daunting conclusion. "You— were hiding your strength?" It was more an accusation rather than a question.

Koda languidly dusted himself off, staring at Tomio with a muddled look as if what he had done was only natural. "Hm? I knew from the start that you were the real threat, why would I waste my strength on those— as you so eloquently put it, pitiful excuses for subordinates?"

Tomio's palms squeezed together, he seethed with a cold calculating rage. First his pride had been insulted, and now his intelligence. Even if he was taught to cast his ego aside, he wouldn't stand for it.

But of course, the feeling was mutual.

In a mere matter of moments, Tomio was met with a sharp piece of alloy trying to pierce its way through his chest. He was nimble enough to meet the blade with his own, but the sheer force of Koda's swing sent ripples down his spine.

"Shocked?" Koda libeled, on its own brute strength didn't amount to much, but when used correctly it had the potential to be a weapon sharper than any technique could ever dream to be.

"Don't get cocky" Tomio retorted, he rose a single finger of the hilt of his blade and aimed it at Koda's face. The latters' smile only widened once he understood what the Lieutenant was trying to do.

'I've already seen that one before!' Almost instinctively, he latched onto Tomio's wrist with his left hand, prying it apart from his blade as he started to retreat into a nearby wall.

'Ridiculous' He scoffed at Koda's joke for a fighting style, using his legs to kick off Koda's torso and put some distance between them. "Is that all you can do?" He jeered.

Instead of offering up any words, Koda just pointed to his chest with an unchanged smile. Tomio rose a brow until his eyes widened in horror, he looked down only to notice a huge wound stemming from the base of his neck all the way to his midsection.

The Lieutenant's anxiety reached an all time high as he was forced to watch chunks of scarlet liquid drip from his body. The sensation of his body slowly beginning to grow limp suffocated him as he fell to one knee, using his Zanpakuto as a cane to prevent himself from falling.

Once again, Koda had managed to take advantage of the brief opening between Tomio's leg touching his abdomen and him attempting to push off his body to create distance— and landed a blow on a completely different level than what he had done to Yasui.

"It's about time isn't it?" Koda solicited, the fact that Tomio hadn't allowed despair to fully consume him just yet, could only mean one thing.

"Hah…not bad" Despite the acrimony Tomio felt towards him, as a combatant he couldn't help but respect the man a little for managing to so expertly take advantage of such a small window of opportunity. "You would have…made a great Soul Reaper" Koda could feel the pressure in the room soar to new heights, he had faced this power twice before.

But this time, it was to the death.

"Cloud, Iryūjonmēkā"

Tomio disappeared.

He hadn't used Shunpo, he had quite simply vanished, completely imperceptible to Koda's senses.

'Where did he—' In the span of a single blink, Koda was surrounded by what could only be described as five Tomio's. All with their blades directed at his chest, he hadn't sensed any Reiryoku let alone killing intent, but here they were.

Koda attempted to flash step away, and even though his position had changed the five Tomio's were still surrounding him. The searing sensation of having metal driven into his flesh bombarded him with agony, his speed was rendered futile as he was forced to experience the harrowing squelches of his tendons being ripped to pieces.

'Fuck!' All he could do was curse inwardly as his semblant demise loomed above him, even Okita driving a hole into his gut paled in comparison to this.

'Why!? Why can't I sense him anymore!?' His lament was cut short as the clones seemed to have disappeared, the pain hadn't faded in the slightest but the visuals of his limbs being pried open had vanished.

Before he had the chance to make heads or tails of what had transpired, he was finally able to sense a cold killing intent aimed at the back of his neck. He was able to turn around in time to gaze upon the sight of Tomio trying to skewer his head, barely managing to prevent Tomio's blade from turning his head into a kebab.

But the Lieutenant still managed to land a deep cut near Koda's eyebrow, the blood leaked downwards blinding his left eye. Unable to waste time cleansing his optics, he would have no choice but to fight with only half his vision.

Koda responded with a swing of his own, but halfway through the motion— he noticed something rather jarring. Once more, the killing intent from Tomio had vanished. 'It must be another clone, in that case even if it attacks me I should be fine' He had made a gamble with an awfully high risk, but in his situation he wasn't exactly swimming in options.

And his prediction paid off, the intent appeared to his left but he was able to redirect his blade to meet Tomio's in time. The wound on the Lieutenant's chest had closed, but the beads of sweat dripping down his forehead alongside his frail breathing suggested that his stamina was running thin. Moreover, it was evident that activating his Shikai wasn't helping his case.

Albeit, Koda's reserves weren't exactly in prime condition— but the fact that he wasn't using his Shikai, not that he could even if he wanted to meant that Tomio's were depleting at a much quicker rate.

"A quick learner huh?" Koda could sense Tomio's false confidence crystal clear, he had a chance at winning. All he had to do was outlast him, and eventually Tomio would be too drained to retaliate. "Even so, the pain must be drowning out your senses— how long will you be able to focus I wonder?"

The corners of Koda's lips stretched into a manic grin as his sclera shimmered with an even more radiant amber light. "That's my line!" Tomio's presence evaporated again, followed by the feel of alloy burying its way into his ribcage. However, as per the lack of bloodlust, he made the right call to ignore it and awaited Tomio's next move.

The more time wasted, the better.

Tomio "split" into two and darted towards Koda, the latter had already gotten accustomed to detecting the real Tomio from the false. He prepared to meet his blade head on, intent on stalling him for as long as possible when the Lieutenant somehow managed to slice Koda's wrist before the clash.

'My reactions are slowing down— what an annoying ability' He grimaced before gripping his hilt with his left hand as well in order to prevent Tomio from overpowering him.

Upon closer inspection, Tomio looked even worse than he did merely a few moments ago. His bangs had fallen loosely onto his face and his robes started to stick to his skin as a result of the sweat. Not only did he have to expend energy to keep his Shikai active, but each individual use of his Zanpakuto further drained his reserves.

The Lieutenant grew desperate, relentlessly summoning hallucinogenic clones in an effort to multiply Koda's agony as much as humanly possible. All he needed was a singular opening, as long as he could force Koda's focus to waver even for just a split second that would be more than enough to catch him off guard.

But that was much easier said than done.

"Monster…" Tomio muttered weakly, expecting to view eyes filled with torment; he instead was greeted with bloodshot sclera and an almost hawk-like gaze fixated onto nothing but him.

It was like the rest of the world didn't even exist for Koda.

"You've given me quite the headache— I'm impressed, but I've experienced far worse" Till this day, the memory of the entity assaulting his consciousness was still fresh in his memory. Even if it only lasted for an instant.

Convinced that Tomio's stamina was finally nearing its end, Koda allowed his Reiryoku to surge freely. At this point holding back was meaningless, the wound in his wrist quickly began to close and the back of Tomio's blade stood millimeters away from his face.

"...preposterous" Was all Tomio's lips could muster before all he could see was a sharp sheet of metal crashing down at his skull.

Thump.

The Lieutenant's body went limp as it fell to the floor lifelessly, the heart-wrenching agony that had been assaulting Koda finally dissipated. He heaved a sigh of relief as he felt the strength begin to leave his legs.

He prepared himself for the impact of his spine banging against the floorboard, but instead felt something catch him by the shoulders before he could fall. He meekly turned his neck as he set his sights on what appeared to be a woman with long raven hair that reached her waist.

His vision was too hazy to make out her exact features, but the fact he couldn't even remotely recognize the Spiritual Pressure she exuded meant it wasn't someone he knew.

"Who…?" His world was encompassed in a thickening black before he could finish his sentence.