Chapter 156: Results
Though First Division's style seemed antiquated, its efficiency remained high.
The scene shifted abruptly.
First Division, underground training ground.
In less than ten minutes, Suoh's visit received response and he was led to his evaluation site.
Pressure and scrutiny from the Captain-Commander now focused entirely upon Suoh.
At this moment he wore no white captain's haori, only his standard shihakusho, speaking in a deep voice.
"Ready?"
"Yes."
As always, the two exchanged no superfluous words.
No announcement, no signal.
The year-end evaluation thus began.
In an instant, Suoh's left hand steadied the scabbard at his waist while his right gripped the sword hilt tightly.
Battle desire ignited in his eyes.
Under this familiar intense pressure, he could barely contain his eagerness.
"Illuminate all peaks, Kikou!"
The blade left its sheath simultaneously completing Shikai.
His right hand suddenly exerted force, sending a brilliant crescent-shaped sword pressure shooting toward the Captain-Commander ahead.
Mid-flight, the sword pressure's glow abruptly transformed, causing the entire attack to vanish invisibly.
Bang!
"Petty tricks."
Watching the sword pressure fly through the air before suddenly disappearing, the Captain-Commander saw through it at a glance.
Without hesitation he returned a sword pressure of his own, detonating with a muffled explosion mid-air.
Simultaneously—
"Reflect!"
Suoh borrowed the cover of smoke and dust, stepping forward to charge the Captain-Commander. Between shunpo movements, figure after figure appeared in rapid succession across the field.
The Captain-Commander's eyes showed slight disinterest at this ability he'd witnessed before.
The technique had clearly evolved since its initial demonstration—the clones now contained Suoh's spiritual pressure, appearing identical to the original under both visual and spiritual perception.
Quite deceptive indeed, but old wine in a new bottle held no effect against him.
"What's the point."
The Captain-Commander's stance shifted subtly, maintaining his middle guard position throughout, prepared at any moment to counter attacks from concealment.
"Mm!?"
The Captain-Commander paused slightly, his keen senses detecting something amiss.
A frontal assault?
Suoh, utilizing silent shunpo, materialized directly before him.
Almost instinctively, the Captain-Commander swung his blade forward.
"Shine brilliantly!"
But after manifesting, Suoh didn't continue attacking—instead he sharply withdrew a step backward.
A burst of intense light suddenly exploded between them.
The radiance proved blinding, vision blanking instantaneously.
Even with the Captain-Commander's extreme reaction speed, in his self-limited state he still couldn't completely avoid Suoh's sudden assault.
This technique resembled the Solar Flare quite closely.
The principle proved simple and unadorned, its victory lying in catching opponents off-guard.
Suoh himself remained unaffected by the user's technique, seizing the momentary opening in the Captain-Commander's stance.
A simple straight thrust!
Clang!
The Captain-Commander relied on experience forged through countless battles to parry with his blade.
Though this strike carried some deflection, its remaining force still managed to sever the purple tie binding his white beard, which slipped down from his chest.
The Captain-Commander's meticulously groomed chest beard came undone, dozens of silvery-white strands floating loose in the air.
Less than twenty seconds into the engagement, Suoh had already achieved results.
Though the Captain-Commander bore no injury, his image had suffered considerable damage.
This represented standard Shinigami combat reality.
A suddenly unveiled new ability could often catch opponents completely off-guard.
No way, right?
The Captain-Commander won't eat me alive for this, will he?
Seeing this, Suoh's expression froze for less than a second before recovering his resolute expression.
Strike while he's down!
Can't worry about that now!
His spiritual pressure suddenly erupted, bodily functions pushed to their limits.
After briefly withdrawing to create distance, all clones in the field simultaneously dispersed like bubbles in sunlight.
Concentrating all mental focus and spirit, he called out forcefully.
"Nine-Headed Dragon Flash!"
A rapid succession of strikes covering the nine fundamental positions of swordsmanship at extreme speed.
Vertical downward, diagonal slash, reverse diagonal, left thrust, right thrust, rising left cut, rising right cut, reverse wind, piercing thrust.
These nine positions formed all kendo's basic structure—directions encompassing vertical, diagonal, horizontal, rising slashes and thrusts of every strike type, theoretically sealing off all possible evasion and blocking directions for opponents.
The sole way to break the technique was to attack its source in advance—the center of Suoh's body
This represented Suoh's ultimate technique after extended training.
If Kikou's reflection technique hadn't achieved its effect, Suoh would have selected alternative combat methods.
The Captain-Commander's skill and experience vastly exceeded his own. Under complete defensive readiness, directly deploying Nine-Headed Dragon Flash held essentially no meaning.
Nine fierce blade flashes passed in sequence.
Yet even so, eight explosive sounds rang out in rapid succession.
The entire exchange concluded in mere milliseconds.
Shink!
Not until the final strike of Nine-Headed Dragon Flash passed through—
The Captain-Commander's shihakusho immediately tore open.
Blood sprayed from the Captain-Commander's right shoulder!
Suoh's years of accumulated training and refinement achieved satisfactory results in this moment.
Despite being wounded, the Captain-Commander's expression and spiritual pressure fluctuations showed not the slightest change.
As always, calm as an abyss.
"Hadou #58: Tenran!"
The Captain-Commander extended his left hand, abandoning incantation to release a wide-range destructive kidou.
The explosive power Suoh displayed in that brief instant made him feel it necessary to first create distance, allowing his eyes to recover somewhat.
"Bakudou #39: Enkosen!"
Seeing the storm taking shape in the Captain-Commander's hand, Suoh raised his own hand and responded in a deep voice.
Using Danku could completely defend against Tenran, but would likewise bring greater consumption.
This would undoubtedly increase pressure for his subsequent engagement.
Facing the Captain-Commander, he had to consciously control his spiritual pressure and mental energy expenditure.
As Enkosen shattered, Tenran caused Suoh no damage, merely pushing his body back several dozen meters in a straight line.
Exactly right.
Tenran wasn't renowned for killing power among Hadou techniques. As he'd predicted, Enkosen proved sufficient response.
Besides, even taking some injury wouldn't matter—it would rather further stimulate his battle desire.
This represented a beneficial combat habit Suoh had developed under the Captain-Commander's earnest guidance.
At this moment, Suoh once again faced a choice.
Continue advancing, or remain in place, defending and counterattacking?
The blinding flash's duration was limited. He naturally wouldn't expect Kikou's Shikai ability to significantly affect the Captain-Commander.
Even recovering to only perceiving light and shadow outlines, for the Captain-Commander this essentially equaled normal vision.
Being forced back likewise represented a result he wished to see. Facing the Captain-Commander, don't fantasize about establishing or expanding advantages.
Trick techniques could only be used once.
Before progressing further, reusing them merely wasted spiritual pressure.
Simultaneously, the Captain-Commander's seriousness level would increase after taking damage, making active attacks extremely difficult.
"Deploying the same abilities as before, nearly replicating the scene, purely to mislead me and create momentary fluctuation in my thoughts."
"Quite excellent."
Though severe and upright, the Captain-Commander didn't stint on affirming his juniors.
Suoh's intricately linked ability deployment had, in a certain sense, truly forced him into a dangerous position.
If the abilities and techniques weren't still somewhat immature, it wouldn't have stopped at just that shoulder wound.
"However."
The Captain-Commander's tone shifted.
His eyes suddenly sharpened, his gaze like tangible blade edges piercing Suoh's skin painfully.
"That earlier hesitation—what was that about?"
He stepped forward once.
Just one step directly closed the distance between them.
The entire rocky ground's momentum seemed to tilt with him, heavy pressure layering like ocean waves, pressing down on Suoh.
"Battle absolutely does not end at merely this degree!"
Suoh dared not respond. He couldn't very well say it was because he'd severed the opponent's meticulously maintained beard tie and feared genuine anger.
Speaking such words would likely make the old man even angrier.
He could only honestly grip Kikou firmly.
The Captain-Commander's figure pressed close, his raised zanpakuto suddenly swinging down.
A simple, unadorned cleaving strike carrying tremendous force.
Clang!
The explosive sound of blade against blade.
Suoh clenched his jaw, borrowing force to retreat, Kikou whirling in his hands to create distance.
But the Captain-Commander's figure followed like a shadow.
A heavy fist struck Suoh's abdomen.
Blood trickled from Suoh's mouth corner, though his movements showed no disorder whatsoever.
After all, he possessed quite practiced injury-taking techniques. In terms of receiving blows he held considerable experience, his physical constitution truly first-rate.
And the Captain-Commander's active offensive also meant the year-end evaluation officially entered its main subject and approached conclusion.
Endure!
***
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