Chapter Forty-Eight: The One Who Moves Like Lightning

“F-no-Ji Pavilion!”

Nagatsuro, having tended to Minamo, rushed in a fluster to find Shigekuni Yamamoto.

Kirinji was actually going to confront Yhwach alone!

Though he didn’t know Kirinji’s true power, Nagatsuro instinctively believed—

That only Shigekuni Yamamoto could defeat Yhwach.

“Is that so? Kirinji has gone?” Yamamoto merely lifted his eyes slightly before returning to his meditative state.

“F-no-Ji Pavilion!” Nagatsuro, seeing Yamamoto’s indifferent response, couldn’t help but raise his voice in agitation.

“Calm yourself, Nagatsuro,” Yamamoto opened his left eye, speaking softly. “There’s no need for such panic.”

“But—”

“Do you truly know Kirinji?”

Nagatsuro was struck silent.

Did he, in fact, know him?

He knew Kirinji would later become a member of Squad Zero, that he was easy-going and approachable, and that his miraculous hot springs could heal wounds...

But beyond that, did he really know Kirinji? Even a little?

“Kirinji is Lord Yasuda’s disciple.”

Yamamoto’s words drew Nagatsuro back from his thoughts.

“As one of Lord Yasuda’s disciples, Kirinji possesses a strength that even I must respect.”

“To this day, no one has ever managed to injure Kirinji, not so much as a single hair.”

“So, he bears that title...”

...

“‘Lightning Swift’ Tenshirou.”

Yhwach gazed calmly at the Soul Reaper captain before him, speaking his name.

“Oh? I’m surprised you’ve actually heard of me. Quite unexpected. Hm?” Kirinji casually shifted the blade of grass in his mouth, scratching his ear.

After dispatching the Quincy squad that had invaded alone, this man had descended from the sky.

“Of course. The ‘Lightning Swift’—never wounded—your reputation precedes you, even among us Quincy. You are already recorded as ‘highest level combat strength’ on our rolls,” said Yhwach coolly.

He wasn’t exaggerating.

Before invading the Soul Society, the Quincy had meticulously investigated all the Soul Reapers, selecting five individuals to be classified as ‘highest level combat strength’ and treated with the utmost caution.

Among them was the name—Tenshirou Kirinji.

“So, should I feel honored?” Kirinji’s gaze turned cold.

Investigated? He hadn’t fought in over a century, and the Quincy’s assaults had begun only a month ago. How had they learned of events from over a hundred years past?

“There’s no need for honor, Soul Reaper who bears the name ‘Lightning Swift’...” Yhwach slowly drew the blade at his side.

“‘Highest level combat strength’ means ‘top priority target for elimination.’ Yet, because the gap in power is so great, such matters have long been put aside.”

“But now, it is an exception, because...”

Yhwach’s sword was fully unsheathed.

“Your opponent is me.”

“That’s an unexpected statement, isn’t it?” Kirinji pinched the grass stem, rolling it between his teeth.

“No one has ever dared to utter such words before the ‘Lightning Swift’…”

“But that’s fine…”

Kirinji gripped his sword’s hilt with his left hand, drawing it halfway in a flash.

His head lowered, but his eyes, beneath that slicked-back hair, were locked tightly onto Yhwach.

“The vengeance for Minamo and Oshiro-maru, I’ll settle with you here.”

“However…”

Just as the air grew heavy with tension, Kirinji’s tone suddenly shifted.

“You really are a cold one. Quite unexpectedly so.”

“It is required of those in command,” Yhwach replied blandly.

“Is it?” Kirinji tilted his head, skepticism in his voice.

“Using the lives of over a hundred subordinates as bait—someone like you, a commander, grows more distasteful the more I look at you.”

He drew his blade in a single motion, the murderous intent about him thickening.

“Pawns are meant to be used as such, are they not?” Yhwach sneered, his black cloak billowing in the night wind.

Swish!

Kirinji, standing before Yhwach, raised his sword high and brought it down in a fierce arc.

“You make a fair point.”

Crack!

Yhwach stood ten meters from Kirinji, and before him drifted several strands of pitch-black hair, slowly falling.

He hadn’t completely dodged that strike?

Though he hadn’t used his fastest Hirenkyaku, Kirinji clearly hadn’t used his quickest Shunpo either.

Which meant, in their first clash of speed, he had been outmatched?

“Hmph…” Yhwach smiled faintly.

Though designated as one of the ‘highest level combat strength,’ Kirinji had still exceeded his expectations.

On speed alone, Kirinji was Yamamoto Shigekuni’s equal.

No, perhaps even superior if speed alone was considered.

“To think you could dodge that—you do have the qualifications of a commander,” Kirinji’s demeanor shifted, now looking every bit the lazy uncle.

“At least you haven’t disappointed me.”

“Tch—let you get arrogant for a moment, and this is what I get.” Yhwach narrowed his eyes, gripping his sword as he charged Kirinji.

“But your attack was rather direct, wasn’t it?”

As Yhwach dashed in, Kirinji’s sword was already poised at his throat.

…

Yhwach sneered, and somehow, his blade was already slashing toward Kirinji’s abdomen.

Kirinji’s eyes narrowed, and with Shunpo he slipped away, leaving Yhwach’s attack to strike only the air.

Hiss!

Yhwach didn’t halt his offensive; instead, spinning on the force of his swing, he left a dense circle of reishi around him.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

As the reishi circle formed, four swift arrows shot out toward Kirinji!

Crack!

Though he’d just regained his footing, as the ‘Lightning Swift,’ Kirinji’s excellence was not limited to movement speed.

Even his reactions were top-tier.

His sword flashed, intercepting and shattering all four arrows.

“As expected of the ‘Lightning Swift.’ Such attacks are indeed ineffective.”

Yhwach lowered his sword, the reishi at the tip slowly dissipating.

His eyes narrowed.

“It seems I’ll need to be even faster.”

Heh…

Kirinji scoffed, shifting the grass stem between his lips, a gleam of excitement in his eyes.

“Come, then.”