18 Thirty seconds.

Chapter Eighteen. (Edited by CDoggo EN: If there are any mistakes, blame me lol)

Kuromiya's eyes suddenly burst open, ''I will show it to you.''He lifted his blade from his side, the shaft pointing straight at Kenpachi. He slowly changed his stance, as his necklace emitted an enchanting green color. Kuromiya whispered a single word that reverberated around the area, "Bookmark."

...

'Bookmark? He didn't change that much,' Kenpachi thought to himself disappointed, though he didn't drop his guard despite the lack of change in his opponent.

One.

The first second begins, and bookmark was activated. The younger one of the two decided not to waste any time whatsoever. Kuromiya activated bringer light and launched off the ground with blinding speed, his blade was pointed at the battle-lusting soul reaper's throat, the way Kuromiya propelled himself showed his lack of care for self-preservation.

Kenpachi decided to respond in kind and launched himself, causing cracks in the ground where he formerly stood. The sheer speed of both contenders was more than enough to make them both seem like a blur, and like a flash of light, the distance in between the two contenders shrunk to practically nothing.

Two.

Their swords met each other, the sound of metal reverberated through the battlefield, echoing in the distance, but heard by few to none. Each contender pushed as hard as they could, the blades sliding up against each other. Sweat dripped off their faces during the exchange, and the incredible amount of spiritual pressure that was being output by the two slowly cracked the ground below them into big pieces and fine dust.

'His whole stance changed, it doesn't feel even remotely similar to what he did originally.' The captain of squad eleven noted; to him it felt as if Kuromiya was asking to be hit, but he knew in return he would take extreme damage because it was similar to the style he used. A wild grin crept onto his face.

Not even a fraction of a second later, his assumption about Kuromiya's stance was proved to be correct because of what action his adversary decided to take next.

Three.

Kuromiya, who had once been matching Zaraki's blade with one of his own, swiftly moved his sword over to the right side as fast as he could muster; leaving his chest wide open for Zaraki to strike.

The man didn't hesitate to do so, impaling him straight through his upper abdomen, blood gushing out of the wound as the tip of Kenpachi's blade stuck into the area around his liver, but this wouldn't be fatal in the amount of time that was left.

Four.

Kenpachi felt a sudden sharp burst of pain coming from his right wrist, making his one visible eye travel downwards to said place. He found himself looking at his hand, it was hanging a thread of flesh, dangling down yet the grip on his blade was still firm. Blood gushed out of the wound onto the floor and pieces of fractured bone lay scattered in the skin and muscle tissue.

The cause of said wound was an asauchi, whose wielder had directed towards his wrist with a swift movement, making sure to cut as deep as he could.

''You idiot.'' Kenpachi said while watching as the boy retreated a few feet away from him, he stood there unmoving, staring Kuromiya down with a death glare.

Now that both of their attacks had made contact, it was crystal clear who was the one who came up on top of their short exchange, and Kenpachi wasn't happy about it.

Five.

''Just when i was having so much fun… What the hell were you thinking?'' Kenpachi admonished, slowly grabbing the sword that was held in the iron grip of his practically severed right hand.

''Weren't you the one talking about having our battle?'' Kuromiya forced himself to swallow a huge amount of blood in his mouth, the result of former wounds doing damage over time, as he swallowed he felt the blood drain down his throat with a metallic taste. ''Don't talk as if this battle is already over.''

Yet, little did it matter to the teenager the amount of wounds he had sustained, he had around twenty five seconds left till bookmark returned him to his state before being wounded, and he wanted to exploit those twenty five seconds as much as he possibly could.

Six.

Zaraki's only answer was a demoniac grin, making a swift thrust at Kuromiya's chest; using his sword in an attempt to pierce his opponent for a second time and do as much damage as possible.

''You are damn right about that!''

Kuromiya parried the slash, his blade flashing to the blade of Zaraki and pushing it back and upwards. Kuromiya's quick reflexes allowed him to parry the thrust and go in for an attack of his own.

Seven.

. . .

In the distance a pair of yellow was watching over their fight, those eyes belonged to no other than Yoruichi. The cat had ended up overlooking the boy's words and she decided to stick around, the thought of leaving the teenager fighting a man like Zaraki didn't sit well with her whatsoever. She didn't want to see him die, especially to a madman like Zaraki.

Her worries proved to be well-based when a blinding stream of yellow spiritual pressure shot its way through the sky, overpowering the normal blue hue of the sky and clouds.

''Damn it.'' She cursed under her breath, while watching as Kenpachi's eyepatch fell off his face, and slowly floated until it hit the ground. Which resulted in a massive increment in the man's spiritual energy, to the point of being more than almost everyone that she'd seen in recent years.

"The wounds he has sustained are not looking good." Yoruichi could see that Kuromiya's wounds were extremely bad, and could lead to his death. However, she wouldn't be nearly as worried if she knew about the existence of bookmark.

'Should I just go in? If this goes on he's really going to die.' Despite Kuromiya's promises. Yoruichi debated whether to engage in the fight, despite the fact that it had been well over a century since she had even attempted to take part in a fight. It appeared that her decision to stay had somewhat backfired, because she was feeling a strong urge to intervene in their fight.

'That idiot, if he had just told me about his abilities.'

. . .

The sound of a body hitting the ground reached the ears of the three of the people present at a former battlefield. These three were Ichigo, Hanataro and Ganju, who watched in silence as Renji Abarai fell to the ground in utter defeat, blood seeping from the wounds inflicted to him.

''Haah.'' Ichigo panted in between heavy breaths, attempting to regain his breath as he finally claimed the win over their fight. With a swift movement, he allowed his immense zanpakuto to rest against his shoulders. He slowly stood up straight and observed the area around him while regaining his stamina.

The orange haired soul reaper had remained triumphant throughout their fight, sustaining just a few minor wounds. This was a huge contrast when compared to the two massive slashes that Renji had across his chest in the shape of an 'x'.

''Ichigo, are you okay?'' Now that the fight was over, Hanataro runned straight towards the teenager. ''I can't believe you managed to beat a lieutenant!''

''Beat? He whooped his ass.'' Ganju remarked, running right up next to him. ''I won't lie, i'm glad we didn't end up fighting.''

''Right?'' Ichigo replied, smirking at the man while turning towards him as Hanataro started treating the few wounds he had. ''Don't bother Hanataro, this aren't that big of a deal…''

Their conversation was interrupted by a massive pillar of yellow reiatsu, gaining the attention of not only them, but of every other soul inside the seireitei.

''T-that is…'' The delicate looking boy muttered, while both Ichigo and Ganju turned their gazed towards said direction. ''Captain Zaraki's spiritual pressure… It even parted the clouds!''

''... I am going there.'' Ichigo told the group, while pointing with his free hand towards the fallen figure of the red haired soul reaper. ''You should heal him, once you're done you can follow.''

''Wait, Ichigo!'' Ganju grabbed the substitute soul reaper by his wrist, stopping him from leaving the place. ''Look, with all that attention he's grabbing we can head to the tower and save that girl!''

''Ganju.'' Ichigo called, freeing his wrist from the man's hold. ''I am not leaving him to die just to save Rukia, we are all here in this together.''

''I-Ichigo?'' Hanataro questioned, it was the first time since he had met the teenager that he saw him not prioritizing Rukia's well-being.

''We all are going to get back home, we aren't leaving anyone behind.'' He replied resuming his walk once again, not before adding while he took yet another look back at them. ''Besides, if i saved Rukia and told her i did so by leaving him behind, she would kick my ass all the way back to Karakura Town.''

Without another word, the orange haired boy left the two of them behind in order to heal his defeated opponent, moving away from them with a single objective in mind.

Saving his friend, and nothing else.

. . .

Two blurry figures can be seen rushing through a labyrinth of buildings and houses,craters being left behind each area they pass.

Twenty Seven.

'Just three seconds left.' Kuromiya reminded himself, looking down towards his injuries. He lost his arm at some point in the journey, only the shoulder was left, jutting out of the wound. He also sustained cuts all along his torso and legs, making for a ghastly sight. The amount of wounds he sustained made him look demonic, almost as if he had crawled out of the depths of hell. But, Kuromiya wasn't too worried.

The two of them had been evenly matched for most of their fight, but the moment that Kuromiya had forced the eyepatch off the man's face, the whole thing made a complete one hundred and eighty turn.

What once was an even battle was quickly turned into a one sided massacre, forcing him to enact his backup plan.

'The farther I get away from that place, the better.' Holding that single thought in mind he had immediately retreated from the place, running to the best of his abilities.

Twenty Eight.

And so the chase raged on, leaving small trails of green light as the boy left one afterimage after the other, in an impressive display of speed. The man behind him didn't fall behind though, keeping up with his opponent and even closing the gap in between them.

Then the inevitable happened, as the distance that had been getting shorter and shorter between them was finally closed by the man, and forced them into a final clash.

Twenty Nine.

Turning towards the man in mid-air, the teenager managed to see Kenpachi swinging his sword with his one functional hand left at him. He could have allowed himself to be hit, but his instinct screamed at him to not take the hit, so he decided to match Zaraki with his own attack.

With that in mind he poured all his spiritual pressure into one last Bringer Light, building the momentum he required to match the attack.

Not even a tenth of a second later the clash happened, both of their swords spewing out a sea of spiritual pressure upon contact, bathing their surroundings with it.

The houses around them crumbled, even the larger buildings ended up turning into nothing but ruins as pale green met the sickening yellow of Kenpachi's spiritual pressure.

''Even with one hand, you were able to stop that.'' Kenpachi praised, his smirk not faltering even a single bit despite his opponent's refusal to accept defeat. ''It has been so long since i've felt something like this!''

'Just a bit longer…' Kuromiya ignored the man's words, feeling his one hand trembling under the pressure of this one hit. This last second felt like entire hours to him, watching as both of their swords released the loud shriek of metal colliding.

As blades pushed up against each other, the one wielded by Kuromiya slowly started to fracture, fine lines and cracks turned larger until… the sword shattered.

Thirty.