"Nice momentum! But… it's still not enough!"
Fujiwara Tatsuma clearly had no intention of clashing head-on in Zanjutsu. With a flick of his Zanpakutō, Yukihime, he conjured an ice pillar beneath his feet, lifting himself high into the air.
Then, eyes blazing, he locked onto Fūjin Taichi.
"Alright then—here I come!"
Whoosh!
Before the words had even settled, he leapt down from the pillar, closing the distance in a single bound. Taichi reacted on instinct, raising his blade to block—
—but it was a feint.
In the blink of an eye, Tatsuma vanished with Shunpo, reappearing behind him, blade already descending.
Clang!
Steel met steel.
A wave of bone-chilling cold surged through Taichi's body along the length of their locked blades. His hands trembled, yet he refused to loosen his grip.
"Oh? Already struggling, Taichi?"
Yukihime pressed down mercilessly against Kyūjūkyū. Frost spread visibly along the blade, creeping forward as freezing currents surged like a tide.
"My Kyūjūkyū is the second-strongest fire-type Zanpakutō… There's no way I lose to you!"
Taichi made a split-second decision.
He disengaged with Shunpo, narrowly slipping past Yukihime's edge, retreating over a dozen meters in an instant. Then, with a backhand slash, he unleashed a stream of orange flames—serpentine fire that devoured the pursuing cold.
"Freeze, Milky Way of the Nine Heavens!"
Tatsuma swung Yukihime repeatedly. Pale blue spiritual energy flowed skyward like a rushing current—
—and within seconds, the rain itself froze.
Layer upon layer, it formed a vast crystalline ice curtain, towering dozens of meters high.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Whoosh! Whoosh!
In the next instant, thousands of icicles shot forth from the frozen wall, raining down like a swarm of arrows toward Taichi below.
"Tatsuma! You bastard, are we sparring or are you trying to kill me?!"
Taichi looked up at the storm of death descending from above. A flicker of fire ignited in his eyes.
In one smooth motion, he drew Kyūjūkyū into an iaijutsu stance—
—and slashed skyward.
TENKA RYŌURA (Heavenly Fire Consuming the Wilderness)!
Shing—!
The flames burst forth, taking the shape of a colossal phoenix. With three trailing tails of fire, it soared upward, blazing through the sky.
Where it passed, the icicles melted instantly—reduced back into freezing rain that poured down in torrents.
BOOM!
The phoenix slammed headfirst into the massive ice curtain.
Crack—crack—CRACK!
Fractures spread like lightning across its surface, splitting outward in all directions.
RUMBLE—!
The temperature within the barrier rapidly stabilized. The ice pillar Tatsuma had created melted away, thunder faded, and the storm clouds began to settle.
"Not bad, Taichi."
Tatsuma twirled Yukihime lightly in front of his chest, his expression calm—almost indifferent.
"But I forgot to mention… that was just the appetizer."
"What?"
"Hahaha…"
He licked his lips, a dangerous gleam flashing in his eyes.
"Whatever you do… don't blink."
"…Cut the theatrics," Taichi shot back, voice steady. "Whatever it is—I'll take it head-on."
"Heh… Taichi. Have you always been this slow?"
"…What?"
"Think about it."
Tatsuma's voice dropped, almost teasing.
"There's water in the sky. Water on the ground. Water in the air. Water in the clouds…"
"And even your body—seventy percent of it is water."
"…What are you getting at, Tatsuma?!"
Taichi frowned—but in that instant, realization struck.
Yukihime was an ice-type Zanpakutō.
That meant—
Anything containing moisture within its range could be frozen solid.
And even if his flames melted the ice…
Whether it turned into water or vapor—
It would still remain under Tatsuma's control.
A perfect cycle.
An endless battlefield shaped entirely by him.
But the most terrifying part was—
If Tatsuma's spiritual pressure was strong enough…
He could freeze everything in an instant.
But that kind of power—
Even for a genius, achieving it in such a short time should be impossible.
Unless…
He'd been hiding his true strength all along.
But why?
Drip.
A droplet of water landed on Taichi's forehead, sliding slowly down his cheek.
"…Sweat?"
For a split second, his heart tightened.
Then he exhaled.
No—
Rain.
The sky, once frozen into that vast ice curtain, had melted under his phoenix flames. Now, the condensed moisture cooled again—
—and rain poured down once more.
"Looks like you've figured it out, Taichi."
Floating midair, Tatsuma gazed down at him with a faint smile.
"But do you remember…?"
"Remember what?"
"What I told you before."
His voice turned cold.
"The gap between a genius… and a nobody."
"…!"
Taichi fell silent.
Because he remembered.
That day in class—
When Tatsuma revealed Yukihime.
When he said:
"The difference between a genius and an ordinary person… is like heaven and earth."
An unbridgeable chasm.
Ordinary people like to believe that effort alone can one day let them catch up to geniuses…
But—
Geniuses don't stand still.
And some of them… never stop working.
In fact, there are geniuses who push themselves even harder than ordinary people ever could.
So that gap?
It never closes.
A chasm is still a chasm.
And the ordinary… remain ordinary.
That—
Is the difference between a genius and everyone else.
"Taichi! Don't think you're the only one who craves strength! Don't think you're the only one grinding in silence—carrying hatred, walking alone in the dark!!"
"Fujiwara—you… what did you do to me with that King's Seal?! Why do you know so much about my… secrets?!"
Cold sweat poured down Taichi's face.
Because everything Tatsuma just said—
Was true.
Secrets tied to his very life.
But how…?
How could he possibly know?!
As Taichi struggled to make sense of it, Fujiwara Tatsuma raised the radiant King's Seal in his left hand, while gripping Yukihime in his right. The eerie glow cast sharp shadows across his face, twisting it into something almost monstrous.
"Taichi… or should I say—Fūma Kamano?"
He let out a cold snort.
"The moment I saw you, I suspected your origins."
"So that night… I used the King's Seal to carve a void-ritual into you. From there, I invaded your inner world—your Jinzen space… and spoke with your spirit, Yone."
"And what did I learn?"
"That you're nothing more than a remnant of the Fūma clan… wiped out by our king."
His lips curled in disdain.
"A pitiful stray dog, driven from its home… yet constantly sharpening its fangs, waiting for the chance to bite the master who rules the stars."
"…Damn you, Fujiwara!"
Taichi's teeth ground together, his jaw trembling as the blinding light of the King's Seal burned into his eyes.
"So you've been lying to me all along…"
So this was the truth.
The King's Seal wasn't just a royal artifact capable of traversing dimensions—
It could invade the mind.
Even reach the most vulnerable place of all—
The inner world of one's Zanpakutō.
"But since we were classmates, I'll give you one piece of advice."
Tatsuma's golden eyes gleamed coldly as he looked down from above.
"The reason your flames lose to my ice… is because that spirit of yours sealed away at least half of your Shinigami power."
"…What?"
"In other words—if you break that seal, you'll regain your full strength."
He paused, then smiled faintly.
"That is… if you're not replaced by that thing first."
"…That thing?!"
Taichi's mind snapped into focus.
As someone who had studied the Great Archive, one possibility immediately surfaced—
Hollows.
But that didn't make sense.
He was a pure Shinigami.
There shouldn't be any Hollow within him—
…Wait.
Shouldn't?
A realization struck like lightning.
"I get it…"
His eyes widened.
"You planted it, didn't you?"
"A Hollow seed… inside me… using the King's Seal!"
"And Yone—he sealed half my power not to hold me back…"
"…but to suppress it."
"To suppress the Hollow poison you left inside me!"
Everything clicked into place.
"You approached me on purpose… challenged me on purpose…"
"It was all to wear me down—so that thing could break free of the seal…"
"So I'd fall completely… and become a Hollow!"
"And then—you'd use the King's Seal to control me through my mind…"
"…for whatever twisted plan you're hiding!"
"Damn you! DAMN YOU, FUJIWARA!!"
Taichi roared, his voice cracking with fury.
"WHY?! Why go this far just to destroy me?!"
Tatsuma's expression didn't change.
He raised his blade slowly, his voice cold and absolute.
"As a branch family, you failed to show loyalty—and instead joined the struggle for succession. That is your first crime."
"After your defeat, you showed no remorse—only schemed for revenge. That is your second."
"You changed your name, hid in Soul Society, and secretly built your strength with ill intent. That is your third."
Each word fell like a verdict.
"Any one of these crimes is worthy of execution."
He lifted the three-foot blade of ice, his gaze devoid of emotion.
"And I—Kazama Yoshio, head of the Four Wings of the Kazama Royal Line—was ordered to hunt down the remnants of the Fūma."
"I have fulfilled my duty."
"…Heh."
Taichi let out a bitter laugh.
"No wonder you kept holding back at the academy… again and again."
"So this was all just to find me."
"Fifty years, huh…? You really went all in."
"No more words."
Tatsuma lowered his stance, tucking the King's Seal away. His right hand gripped Yukihime, while his left slid slowly along the blade—his entire body coiled like a predator about to strike.
"Die, Fūma."
"Fujiwara…"
Taichi tightened his grip on Kyūjūkyū, flames roaring faintly around him once more.
"I won't let you have your way."
"And that King's Seal…"
His eyes burned with resolve.
"I'm destroying it—no matter what."