Enemy!?

"Well, this should be fun." He commented as he watched the raging hollow charge at him.

The hollow's large fist came striking down, directly toward Mikoto's face.

Mikoto dashed forward, while briskly unsheathing his katana from his waist and smoothly raising it up, intending to clash with the beast's fist as it was inches away.

Clink!

But the hollow's knuckles instantly broke Mikoto's katana in half effortlessly as soon as they collided.

Mikoto didn't seem surprised as he simply did a few backflips, dodging the hollow's powerful punch.

He gazed at his broken katana with a knowing look before sheathing it back into his scabbard.

"Ara, Ara~... As expected, you need a type of Zanpakuto in order to hurt a hollow." Mikoto already guessed that even if he was stronger than the hollow in front of him, that doesn't mean his blade is also strong enough to handle it.

Mikoto then pulled off a piece of red cloth from his hoodie and started tying his long silver hair into a high ponytail with a light smile.

The hollow looked at Mikoto with a tilted head, seemingly confused at his actions.

Once Mikoto finished tying his hair, an evil smile appeared on his face as he cracked his knuckles. "How nice of you to wait... We shall do this the old-fashioned way then."

The hollow stopped trying to think and simply charged at Mikoto, who also charged at the hollow.

The hollow sent out his fist toward Mikoto's head once again.

He watched the robust fist, nearing his face, inches... centimeters away...

At the last second, Mikoto tilted his head perfectly so that the punch would narrowly miss his head as he sent out a powerful fist directly to its face.

Bang!

Like a bullet, it hastily impacted directly onto the hollow's mask.

Crunch!

Mikoto watched in slow-mo, as the hollow's mask was being crushed into pieces with his hand running through it.

He could feel the cold blood of the hollow as it drenched his arm that was piercing it.

Shrieeekkk!

The hollow screamed as Mikoto roughly pulled his hand out with blood dripping from it.

"How pitifully easy..." He watched as the hollow slowly disintegrated into small particles.

Curiously glancing around him, he was in a small clearing that the hollow made, but beyond the trees, he could sense more hollows coming.

Quickly after, hollows could be seen surrounding him as they entered the small clearing in the forest from all around him.

Mikoto didn't say any words as he seemed to want to try something.

He imagined exerting his Reiatsu and focusing it into the sole of his feet.

Slowly taking one step, as soon as his foot touched the grassy ground, he suddenly disappeared from the hollows line of sight.

Shrieeekkk!

A screech could be heard as Mikoto could be seen with his hand grabbing the mask of a black furry wolf-hollow.

The hollow in Mikoto's hand seemed frightened as Mikoto abruptly appeared from a distance that was dozens of feet, seemingly in an instant.

Mikoto slowly clenched his hand that was holding the cracking hollow's mask as he watched it flailing around in fear.

"I see...are you scared?... Fear won't help you here my friend." Mikoto was amicably smiling as his playful tone terrified the hollow even more.

Crunch!

Mikoto simply crushed the hollow's mask as it also started disappearing into small particles.

The hollows surrounding him quickly charged at the same time once realizing they couldn't beat him by themselves.

Mikoto had a small smirk on his face as he watched them rush him.

****

Soon after a few minutes, the grass in the clearing that used to be green turned crimson red with dried blood.

The hollows that were there before, couldn't be found.

Everything was silent and not a single shriek could be heard.

Mikoto could be seen approaching the last hollow as it stumbled backward onto its behind.

The hollow gaped at the menacing purple Reiatsu being exerted by Mikoto, as if the devil himself came from hell.

And then there was the feeling of a hand crushing it down onto the ground as it breathed heavily.

"It's unfortunate...as far as I'm concerned you haven't done anything wrong, but the strong will always trample on the weak." Mikoto remarked with a friendly smile as he crouched down in front of the hollow which was shaking in fright.

"All I can do is end your misery."

As Mikoto was about to impale its head, the hollow instantly thrust its hand toward Mikoto's unguarded face.

Mikoto didn't even flinch as he easily grabbed the hand made out of sharp claws.

"Did you think I'd fall for such a pathetic act?... How arrogant of you." Mikoto didn't wait anymore as he sent out a powerful punch aiming directly for its head.

The hollow's eyes widened as it watched the fist which seemed bigger than his whole body crashing down on him.

Splat!

Without even getting a chance to react, its head was blown off as soon as Mikoto's fist came into contact with it.

Mikoto reigned in his flaring Reiatsu as his bloodied figure could be seen.

His once black clothes were completely stained in dry red blood, with his face and hair, dripping blood.

Lightly patting his blood-stained clothes straight, he starts walking away while humming the Darth Vader theme music as if nothing happened.

'I'm not sure if what I did earlier was Shunpo but it's most likely something similar, as of now I'll simply try to figure out a way to increase my proficiency with it.' Mikoto nodded inwardly and continued on his journey.

After an hour of walking, Mikoto could suddenly sense an ominous Reiatsu filled with bloodlust near him.

He exited the forest as the bright sunlight shined down on his figure, he kept walking as he noticed a small village ahead but Mikoto could sense dozens of people there.

Once he got closer, he started walking on the dirt pathway, as he was walking, he saw multiple lifeless Soul Reapers laying on the ground.

Crouching down next to one, he says, "This should be useful."

He picks up a normal Asauchi from one of the Soul Reapers hand's, intending to bond his soul with it, in order to be able to actually fight efficiently.

"I wonder what awaits me..." He murmured in a curious tone as he resumed walking once he put the scabbard for his new katana on the opposite side of his broken katana.

The stench of blood entered his nose, as he raised his brow at how strong it was.

He didn't notice any more bodies on his path surprisingly as he finally entered the village.

He noted that all the villagers were hiding in their houses, scared of something, or rather someone.

Once Mikoto reached the center of the village, he stopped walking... because he understood why they were so scared.

Right in front of him, stood a pile of corpses as high as 50 feet, and one certain girl could be seen standing on top of them with a sinister smile as she relaxed the tip of her katana on the body of a corpse.

She had violet-colored hair in twin pigtails matched with a violet eye as her left had an eyepatch on. She was wearing a simple black Soul Reapers outfit that seemed old and tattered.

She was completely drenched in blood, but her eye quickly locked onto Mikoto's eyes as she promptly hopped off the bodies of corpses and landed with a soft thud a few dozen feet in front of him.

"Oh?... You seem strong, are you another one of those Soul Reapers?" She questioned as she tilted her head while dragging her katana into the ground as she approached him.

Mikoto looked at her with calm interest, the Reiatsu she was emitting was not inferior to his own, it was wildly flaring with a lust for battle, taking the form of some sort of demon behind her.

She also felt familiar but he couldn't tell from where...

He smiled as he replied, "Actually I'm but a simple wanderer."

She smiled back, but seemingly a bit crazier, "Either way it won't matter if your dead."

She swiftly leaped toward him with beastly speed as Mikoto fluidly unsheathed his new katana.

Clang!

Their swords clashed as they both grinned at each other face to face.

Both of their katanas would inch back and forth, as they were having a test of strength in their clash.

"Not bad!" Mikoto remarked.

"Hahaha! Right back at ye!" She laughed madly.

They both flared their Reiatsu as the shockwave started thrashing the wooden houses around them.

The dirty ground under them started to get blown away, as Mikoto's dark black Reiatsu clashed with the girl's powerful violet Reiatsu.

They both kept pushing their swords against each other with all the strength they could.

Realizing that they were comparable in strength, he simply sidestepped and let her blade flow past him, leaving her body exposed. Mikoto took advantage of this as he speedily did a horizontal slash toward her neck.

He watched his blade get closer and closer to her neck but as soon as it was about to touch, she suddenly jumped mid-air and twisted her body before landing on the tip of his blade, using her smaller stature to her advantage.

Mikoto attempted to lower his sword but she jumped up and brought her sword down with all her strength.

Mikoto raised his sword as they clashed once again.

Clang!

Thud!

Mikoto's feet were pushed into the ground as the girl pressed down on him with a crazed smile.

"Is that all you got!?" She exclaimed.

Mikoto ignored her as he once again stepped to the side and let her go past him, but this time, he sent a powerful jab directly to her face.

The girl quickly responded while she was in mid-air by kicking her foot into Mikoto's face.

Bam!

They both traded blows as they were launched a few feet back by each other's attacks.

"What was that again?" Mikoto had a smug expression as he watched her flip back onto the ground, with her lip slightly bleeding.

"Haha look at yourself! Entertain me more!" She retorted wildly as Mikoto was also slightly bleeding on his lip.

They stopped talking, and once again charged at each other.

Sparks of clashes could be seen as their swords moved at blinding speeds.

As the girl swung her sword unhinged, Mikoto gracefully dodged and counter-attacked.

'This girl is fighting purely off instinct... But she seems to have some skill in swordsmanship.' Mikoto thought inwardly as he narrowly dodged her blade by bending his back backward and watched as it slowly zoomed past his face.

"More! More! Give me more!" She continuously crashed her sword into Mikoto's with great vigor, as he responded in equal force.

Suddenly she used Mikoto's sword as leverage and she did a front flip over him, Mikoto's eyes did not leave her figure.

As he immediately turned around, and once she landed, their swords started doing a flurry of movements as they both laughed in delight.

"HAHAHA!!"

"HAHAHA!!"

Cuts started appearing over both their bodies, but they did not falter as their eye's screamed for more!

Mikoto saw an opening and immediately kicked her in the gut, sending her flying back.

She flipped in the air and landed on her feet, but Mikoto was already in front of her slashing his sword directly down onto her head.

She narrowed her eye as she moved her body slightly to the right, causing the blade to slash her left shoulder.

Slit!

Blood spurred out as she was pushed back and her feet dragged against the ground as she slowly came to a stop.

Her face was looking down, not allowing Mikoto to see her expression.

But she steadily rose her face as she had a sly smile.

Licking her bloody lips, she spoke, "Now that's more like it!"

She instantly lunged toward Mikoto who raised his brow.

But rather than clashing with him again, she threw her sword like a javelin toward his face and continued running at him seemingly without a weapon.

Mikoto narrowed his eyes as he simply tilted his head to the left and dodged the blade.

As he was about to counterattack the defenseless girl, she speedily appeared right in front of him but tossed a random dagger that Mikoto didn't notice before.

Nonetheless, he replied by simply deflecting it with his sword, forcing it to fly past him.

But his eyes widened as he saw the girl do a yanking motion with her hands and suddenly felt something slash his back.

Slit!

Blood sprayed out of the slash on his back as he hopped back from the girl who attempted to punch him.

"What a devious person..." Mikoto mused with amusement, as he didn't notice the small strings on the dagger.

They both had strained smiles as they watched each other.

"Winning is winning, no matter how it's done." She shamelessly stated.

"Indeed it is."

"Well then...

Here I come!" Mikoto declared with a battle-thirsty smile, dashing straight to her.

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