Episode Ninety-Five: Bankai Versus Bankai

Darkness had descended over Komamura’s world.

He could hear nothing, see nothing, smell nothing, taste nothing, and feel nothing at all of spiritual pressure.

Though he had known of Tosen’s bankai long before, facing it in earnest proved far more troublesome than he had imagined.

A faint creak rang out as Komamura moved his arm. Through the overwhelming link between himself and the giant warrior behind him, he could clearly sense that the huge samurai had moved its arm as well.

He could still sense the samurai’s motions. Which meant that, as expected, not all sensation had been cut off completely.

Just as you once said, Tosen...

Komamura stared into the darkness before him. Though he could not see his former friend, he knew Tosen had never lied to him, and that gave him a measure of relief.

In that case...

His spiritual pressure slowly began to rise, and the hem of his haori fluttered in response.

Then this old man has even more reason to bring you, who have strayed from justice, back with me!

“By force of spirit alone, you are indeed imposing. As expected of you, Komamura.”

Unlike Komamura, Tosen could clearly perceive everything within this lanternlike void. The blade in his hand was the key to gaining the upper hand in the final form of Senkatsushin: Enma Cricket.

“Pity...”

“Even at the end, you will be unable to feel anything...”

“You will only be proving your defeat.”

Slash.

“What—”

Boom.

“Guh...”

With a strained effort, Tosen held up his sword against the enormous blade that had suddenly fallen from above. The ground beneath his feet cracked like a spiderweb under the immense force.

“...”

On the other side, Komamura maintained the posture of a midair slash. By feel alone, he could tell the blade of the warrior had been blocked. It had only been a probing strike, aimed at the position Tosen had occupied before his senses were swallowed by the bankai, yet unexpectedly, it had yielded results.

You wouldn’t have made such a mistake before...

Thud.

With a slight shift in force, Tosen deftly slid past the warrior’s blade and quickly left the spot where he had been standing.

I can’t waste any more time. If Komamura adapts to the space of this bankai, it will become troublesome.

Resolving to end this swiftly, Tosen raised his sword and charged at Komamura with the piercing thrust at which he excelled.

Bang.

“What...”

With a muffled impact, Komamura directly pressed his left metal guard against Tosen’s sword, neutralizing what should have been a certain killing blow.

Tosen, meanwhile, stood stunned that his attack had been stopped despite the complete sealing of his senses.

Because his true body had directly touched Senbonzakura, Komamura’s senses returned for an instant.

With a somewhat sorrowful glance at Tosen beside him, he brought his sword down without hesitation.

“Tch...”

Knowing that if that enormous blade struck him, the battle would be over, Tosen did not meet force with force. Instead, he used shunpo to evade Komamura’s attack with ease.

With Senbonzakura gone, Komamura was once again cast into the world of darkness.

It vanished again...

Komamura looked toward where Tosen had disappeared, but still could see nothing.

So it really is impossible unless I can get the sword?

And on the other side...

Gasp... gasp...

The sudden reversal had thrown Tosen’s breathing into disorder, and his mind was roiling like a storm tide.

How could this be... How did he...

In that darkness, how had he found his position?

He could not understand that man at all. Like Kenpachi Zaraki, who had shattered his bankai before, there was simply no way to comprehend him. That beastlike instinct and manner of survival caused the advantage he had held to vanish in an instant.

“Such a thing is impossible...”

One Kenpachi Zaraki was one thing. Tosen had never intended to judge that man, who treated battle as the whole of life, by ordinary standards. But that extraordinary man, he had never imagined, would treat his bankai as if it were nothing at all.

“Absolutely impossible!!”

He thrust again toward Komamura. Compared with the last strike, this one was fiercer and faster.

Fshk.

The blow pierced cleanly into Komamura’s body, yet only a small portion entered before the tightening muscles locked the blade in place, stopping it dead.

Thunk.

Though his sense of touch had not vanished, Komamura seized the tiny zanpakuto, utterly out of proportion to the size of his own hand. He also caught Tosen’s hand.

“...What a pity, Tosen.”

A trace of sorrow flashed quickly through Komamura’s eyes, then vanished.

He did not wish to cross blades with his dearest friend, but there was nothing now to be said that could change the outcome.

The raised blade came down. At this angle, the giant warrior could not be struck, or perhaps from the outset Komamura had never intended to settle this with the warrior’s blade. If he were hit by that massive edge, Tosen would be cleaved in two at once.

To kill him was not what Komamura wanted.

Bang.

It was impossible for Tosen to simply release his zanpakuto. He braced himself with his arm against the hilt, kicked away Komamura’s swinging hand, and forced the attack back. Then, using the momentum, he wrenched the blade free from Komamura’s body and created distance between them.

He did not dodge this time. Was that intentional?

“So you look down on me...”

He extended a hand and fired a red fire cannon. If that was how it was to be, then he would simply use his advantage and wear Komamura down little by little.

“What—”

Boom.

Komamura had not detected the kidō at all and was struck head-on by the captain-level red fire cannon. His body, haori included, was instantly scorched black in patches.

Guh...

A low groan he himself could not hear escaped him as Komamura relied on his powerful body to withstand the blow.

“So this is how far you have strayed, Tosen!!”

Had it been before, Tosen would never have fought by toying with his opponent like this. Was he now so devoted to victory that he would abandon even his own former justice?

“Strayed? I have already told you that the paths we walk are different. You cannot understand, Komamura...”

Holding his sword, Tosen spoke quietly of the road he now followed to the friend from whom he had long since diverged, whether or not Komamura could hear him.

“The concept of justice has been rewritten countless times. Those who have rewritten it were always the victors standing till the very end on the battlefield. Therefore, so long as there is victory, that is justice. You, who were defeated in the end...”

“Can never understand it!”

Clang!

The ring of metal suddenly rang out as Komamura once more blocked Tosen’s blade with his beastlike intuition.

“You cannot win. Have you not realized that...”

Komamura’s voice had grown very low, and the eyes that had once burned with killing intent were now strangely gentle.

“You have already gone astray.”

The enormous blade came sweeping down head-on!!