"How is it?", Kisuke asked Yoruichi after Kuroka gave her a cup of tea.
Yoruichi calmly sipped on her tea before answering, "I want to deepen my connection with Byakko like what you have with Benihime."
Kisuke looked at her straight for a few seconds before asking, "You mean synchronizing your body and soul to the limit? Mine was only possible thanks to the Hougyoku, so what's your plan?"
"I don't have one.", Yoruichi shrugged her shoulders and grabbed a cookie. But after chewing a bite, she continued speaking, "But Byakko seems to have one. However, she won't tell me what it is. For now, what I can do is discover and comprehend more of Byakko's abilities. As you've known, Byakko is different from the rest of the Zanpakuto and that includes her Bankai. Instead of being fully aware of her full capabilities, it was limited by my own understanding."
"I see... I have a suspicion that's really the case. Let me guess. Other than Byakko having Spatial abilities, you know nothing else?", asked Kisuke.
"Yep. That's why I don't really understand the weight of her Bankai and it could change abruptly. I can only assume that aside from Spatial, she also has control over Gravitational Forces. However, she won't confirm it for me and told me to ask you instead."
Kisuke was a bit surprised at her words as he didn't think that Byakko would leave something like this to him. Nevertheless, Kisuke started explaining, "Then let me correct that thinking. Byakko's ability is definitely the manipulation of Space-Time and not the Gravitational Force. In the first place, Gravitational Force doesn't exist as Gravity is not force. Gravity is the curvature of Space-Time."
"Not a force? Then what's pushing us down to the ground?", Yoruichi asked in genuine curiosity.
Even Kuroka who was silently listening from the side perked her ears up.
"It's not that we're being 'pushed down', but it's actually the planet itself that is 'pushing us up' through Space-Time. Well, it's a field of science that is easily misunderstood and complicated once you go deeper into the subject. But because you can directly manipulate Space-Time with Byakko, it'll be a lot easier for you as you won't need to know about the theoretical particle, Graviton."
Kisuke then carefully explained the concept of Space-Time to Yoruichi and Kuroka while using strings of Magic Power as illustrations to further demonstrate his words.
After half an hour of explaining and answering questions, Kisuke then touched upon the subject of Yoruichi's Bankai and asked her to tell him in detail about her battle with the Surtr.
Hearing about it, Kisuke sighed in the end, "Unless you're dealing with an army of mobs, please don't use that Space-cutting ability again."
"...But that's the only ability I instinctively knew... I know that it's not a very good ability but is it that bad?"
Kisuke nodded and started explaining, "It's bad. First of all, cutting space itself isn't as amazing as it sounds. It has a very strong destructive effect that is very hard to block, but that's about it when it comes to its pros. For the cons, first of all, it doesn't differentiate allies and enemies. Well, this is what most abilities are, but Space-cutting could be easily miscalculated and that minute miscalculation could result in a very wide range difference so it's not usable in a chaotic battlefield where everyone is in your range."
"Second, it's fuel consumption. As you are now, while ignoring your physical abilities to perform it, you're only capable of unleashing those kinds of strikes nine times at most before being completely depleted. And that's against enemies with similar defenses as the Surtr. If your opponent has a large pool of energy, that could hinder the space manipulation and it would take more power to activate. Not to mention if your enemy also has a similar space manipulating ability or has some understanding regarding it. It's basically an attack where you have to pump in as much energy as possible depending on your enemy."
"Ughh... That's what I've felt too."
"And finally,"
"There's more!?"
"Of course. The last one is the real reason why it isn't viable in high-level battles. Cutting space itself is really impressive, however, after cutting it, Space-Time would instantly mend itself. It's the universe's way of stabilizing itself. In other words, aside from effectively splitting your target, it does nothing else."
Yoruichi sighed, "I see your point. Those at the top of the food chain would have some form of self-recovery and those monstrous beings could regenerate instantly from being cut apart."
"Exactly. Even if you expend most of your energy reserve to cut those guys, they could just reattach themselves."
While resting her chin on her hand, Yoruichi mumbled in discontent, "So it's really just a mob mower and technically useless against boss battles."
Kisuke replied after sipping his tea, "That's exactly right."
All of sudden, Kuroka stood up and tapped the table to interrupt them, "Wait for a damn minute! Why are you talking like this space-cutting ability is no big deal!?"
Both of them looked at her and said, "Because it isn't?"
"No!", retorted Kuroka, "Yoruichi's strike might have been avoidable, nyaa, but it's an instant attack and could only be passively blocked! And aside from Ophis, and maybe Kisuke, I don't know anyone capable of regenerating themselves once they're cut in half! It's technically an instant kill skill, nyaa!"
Kisuke and Yoruichi then looked at each other. Both of them knew that there were at least a dozen people or monsters that could regenerate themselves after being cut in half, not to mention those from the other worlds, including their former one with Aizen and Yhwach at the top of the list.
"If I can do it, then there are bound to be others that can do it too, and not taking them into account is just compromising and could spell our demise. In this world alone, there are probably at least two that could do that and we may even clash with one of them.", replied Kisuke.
After hearing that, Kuroka was speechless and after thinking about it, her way of thinking was really just compromising their efforts. So what if there were almost none who could resist the strike, it also meant that some others could do it and those could become their enemies. She almost forgot that Yoruichi and Kisuke, especially the latter, are always preparing for the worst, "I'm sorry. I'm being naive, nyaa."
"It's fine~," Yoruichi grabbed Kuroka's hand, "I also wasn't used to it at first, so your reaction is normal."
She then faced Kisuke and asked, "So what else could I do with my Bankai?"
Editors:
28th00: Conceptual abilities~ Hahaha~! I guess you could retroactively cut them with the time portion of the attack, eventually.
Alexander: Or delay and stack the attacks.
Uchi no Kami