A Wind Swordsman's Joy

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Steel Tempest was Yasuo's Q skill. There was nothing flashy about it. It was a straight thrust.

When it hit an enemy, Steel Tempest gained one stack of Gathering Storm for six seconds.

Once it reached two stacks, the next Steel Tempest released a whirlwind capable of knocking enemies into the air.

Ren launched Steel Tempest while still seated.

In Soi Fon's eyes, his posture was full of openings.

As commander-in-chief of the Stealth Force and commander of the Punishment Force, she had absolute confidence in her Hakuda and Shunpo.

She had plenty of ways to avoid it. Move her foot left, and the sword point should drift left. Move right, and the sword point should drift right.

'Impossible!'

Soi Fon's pupils widened. With such an awkward seated posture, he should not have been able to put any force into the attack, much less make such nimble adjustments.

Unless there was some principle hidden inside it that she could not understand, or unless he was a true master swordsman, someone capable of turning decay into something miraculous and making a simple thrust bloom into endless variations, impossible to dodge.

She refused to believe Ren had reached that level of swordsmanship.

She used Shunpo and circled behind him.

The sword point did not hesitate. It followed her evasive movement like a shadow, still thrusting toward her.

'That awkward posture can actually keep up with my Shunpo?'

What she saw made her expression darken. Central 46 had not overreacted by sending her. They had made the right call.

Against someone this strong, no one in the Stealth Force except her could handle him.

She drew the Zanpakuto from behind her waist in a reverse grip, its blade wrapped in surging Reiatsu, and flashed forward like a bolt of lightning.

Bang!

Blade met sword point. Their Reiatsu collided, then erupted outward as a ring of violent wind.

Tables and chairs flipped over. The walls of the teahouse cracked and burst apart. Leaves rustled wildly, and the datura flowers were flattened in one direction.

The bench beneath Ren shattered. His feet sank deep into the ground. Soi Fon was forced back several steps.

"Not bad. I underestimated you."

Soi Fon murmured the words, raised her blade before her chest, and spoke her Shikai command.

"Sting All Enemies to Death, Suzumebachi!"

White light flashed. Her Zanpakuto vanished, transforming into a small blade attached to her middle finger. It resembled a hornet's stinger, with a golden chain at the end connecting it to a ring around her forearm.

Ren's gaze turned serious.

He might be the person in Soul Society who understood the captains' Shikai and Bankai best.

Soi Fon's Shikai, Suzumebachi, was a two-hit kill. If it struck the same part of an enemy's body twice in a row, then unless that enemy had Aizen-level Reiatsu to resist it, death was guaranteed.

It was an extremely vicious ability.

Fortunately, his own skills were not weak either. Steel Tempest came with target lock built in.

The reason Soi Fon had not been able to dodge Steel Tempest earlier was simple: she had stepped inside Ren's attack range.

Within that range, if Ren used the skill on a person, the hit rate was one hundred percent.

It did not matter how fast the enemy's Shunpo was, how refined their technique might be, or even whether they used spatial movement. They could not dodge Steel Tempest. They could only block it or be stabbed.

The best part was that Steel Tempest had no fixed stance. He could thrust while lying down, sitting, or crouching. It often caught people completely off guard, making it an excellent skill for ambushes.

Whoosh.

Soi Fon completed her Shikai without saying another word. She rose onto the balls of her feet and closed in with Shunpo.

Sweeping Blade.

Ren decisively used his E skill. This was where Yasuo's joy really began: a sudden dash toward her the instant she entered his attack range.

She pointed her right index finger, aiming to stab Ren's right arm.

She missed.

It was not that he dodged her. She passed through him.

More accurately, Ren passed through her body.

A strange sensation of something rushing through her petite frame came and went in the same instant, leaving behind a faint, hollow sense of loss.

The exchange happened too quickly to give anyone time to linger on it. Ren immediately followed up.

Steel Tempest!

This was different from the earlier simple thrust. When Steel Tempest followed Sweeping Blade, the thrust changed into a circular slash.

A golden ring of cutting light appeared.

The hair on Soi Fon's back stood on end. A sense of danger she had not felt in a long time surged through her. She compressed Reiatsu into her organs, and her petite body became even slimmer.

An advanced Hakuda force-dispersal technique.

Willow Form.

She made herself soft and yielding, like a hanging willow branch. Whether a blade or fist landed, it would struggle to break through her body.

Even so, a wound appeared across her smooth back. It was not deep, but a little crimson seeped out. Most of Steel Tempest's force had been dispersed by her skillful technique.

Her body drifted lightly to the ground.

Before she could even exhale, Reiatsu suddenly surged behind her.

Golden airflow emerged across Ren's body. Two successful Steel Tempest hits had accumulated two stacks of Gathering Storm, and the change had now manifested outward.

He swung his sword forward.

A violent golden tornado appeared at once, sweeping up nearby tables, the thatch from the teahouse roof, shattered debris, datura flowers, grass, and everything else in its path as it rushed straight toward Soi Fon.

She twisted her slender waist, turned, and kicked her left leg high past her shoulder. Reiatsu surged toward her toes like a furious sea before erupting outward.

Forget a tornado. Even a mountain hundreds of meters tall should not have withstood that kick.

Strangely, her Reiatsu disappeared as if swallowed by the sea. The wind caught her left foot and dragged it upward.

"Wah!"

Soi Fon let out a startled cry before immediately forcing down the panic in her heart.

She realized that all of his impossible movements had to be connected to his Zanpakuto ability.

Soul Reaper Zanpakuto had strange and varied powers, divided into all kinds of categories. When facing an impossible attack, assuming it was a Zanpakuto ability made everything reasonable.

Passing through a body as if intangible. A strange wind that nullified Reiatsu.

'What kind of Zanpakuto ability is this?'

Soi Fon thought through those questions in an instant, and her head began to ache as if it might split open.

'Damn it. I'm not that kind of genius tactician!'

Amid that useless fury, she heard the wind.

Not the wind produced by the tornado.

The death-wind of a blade cutting through the air.

Three strikes in total. An upward cut, a horizontal sweep, and a vertical chop. If they landed cleanly, she would either be cut through the waist or split in half.

Every strike was lethal.

Her long years of training took over. Her body moved before her mind could give the order.

Blood scattered through the wind.

Yasuo's ultimate, Last Breath, delivered all three slashes.

Not a single one crit.

Ren's final slash struck the ground. Then he used Sweeping Blade and slipped away.

Drip.

Blood fell onto the grass.

Soi Fon braced one hand against the ground and raised her head. Blood flowed down from her forehead, splitting into two trails along the bridge of her nose.

"Don't think you can run!"

Hit and run? There was no getting away with that so cheaply.

"Bakudo #58: Kakushitsuijaku."

Soi Fon drew a circle on the ground with her hand. There was no ink and no brush, yet a thick black circle still appeared. She intended to track Ren's escape route through his Reiatsu.

"What is going on? I can't track his Reiatsu. That bastard..."

She bit her lip, so furious her chest felt ready to explode.

A black-clad, masked member of the Punishment Force appeared nearby.

"Captain, are you all right?"

"I'm fine. It's just a minor wound. Draw Ren Arashi's portrait and issue a warrant through the Stealth Force. If anyone discovers his whereabouts, report to me immediately."

Her face was frosted with anger.

Even if Ren fled to the farthest edge of Rukongai, she would catch him.

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