14

Ren charged with his sword brandished to take the initiative with a shunpo. He had already let Kojuro have it once but would not allow his captain to have it again.

"Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle!"

Kojuro held up his left hand and pointed his palm at Ren. A yellow ball of electricity formed in front of the palm with a few discharges coming out of it.

"Hado #63: Raikoho!"

A beam of energy shot out from the orb and rapidly approached Ren. Since he was already mid-step, Ren could not move to the side and could only try to block the attack. He crossed his spear and sword across his chest while hoping for the best.

'Fuck you, Khorne!'

The blast hit Ren directly and created a cloud of dust. Kojuro used that as a chance to charge forward and begin his counter-attack.

"Umi O Utsu Inazuma!" he yelled as he charged into the smoke cloud. Kojuro had already sensed Ren's position and knew where to strike.

Ren pushed through the smoke with his blade and appeared before Kojuro. Ren was covered in burn marks all over his body and although none were too severe, he was still injured a good deal by the last attack.

He swung his sword and covered it with a large amount of pure reiatsu as he was about to clash with the lightning-clad guandao. A small smile appeared on Ren's lips.

"Roar!"

The sword vibrated for a moment before a loud roar came out of it. The roar stunned Kojuro for a moment and caused him to lose control of his body for a moment. Ren took that chance to slash and stab toward Kojuro's undefended body.

The stun did not last as long as Ren was hoping and Kojuro was able to soon recover as he stabbed toward Ren's heart.

Both shinigami stopped their attacks before they landed since they were not trying to kill the other. Ren had his sword on Kojuro's neck and his spear was against Kojuro's heart. Kojuro had his lightning-tipped guandao against Ren's waist which would have been a killing blow if what he saw from the Arrancar was true.

The match between the captain and the 12th seat of the 11th division had ended in a draw. This surprised both the combatants who were sure of their victory.

'He definitely has another ability. He was going to use it but he decided to change his mind at the last moment.

That means it is something that is useful for a life and death situation and is his shikai's trump card. May even be his zanpakuto's trump card in both forms.'

'This kid only used two of his weapons. Those other two must also have special abilities. As for what 2-4 options are, I'm afraid to even ask.

Sigh. I knew he was strong but did not know he was this strong. Why did I have to invite him on this mission? The next generation is catching up so fast and I don't know what to do about it.'

Both men had accepted their loss without any bad feelings between them. There was even respect when they looked at each other.

They sat back to back on the ground to catch their breath and try to recover their bodies as quickly as possible. They were in dangerous territory and fighting right then had been foolish but neither regretted it. Both had been able to fight a nice opponent.

"I know some basic Kaidō but not sure if I can heal your injuries. Or even all of mine."

"Hmm. No need to worry. Besides, we have other stuff to worry about."

Just as Kojuro said that 10s of Gillian and several Adjuchas coming out of nowhere. The pair were surrounded on all sides.

The duo shinigami stood up and held their weapons out as they saw all the enemies around them. Both let out a small groan of disappointment.

"Can you loan me that spear of yours? You got extra weapons after all."

Ren tossed the spear up in the air and Kojuro caught it with his left hand. Ren put the greatsword in his right hand which caused the temperature to rapidly rise. The greatsword was not just painted white but instead covered in flames so hot that they were white.

"Haha. You had something like that on you? You could have forced me to use my other two shikai abilities if you used that."

"I don't have the best control over this weapon. But desperate times call for desperate measures."

"Haha. It is good to know your limits. Let's make a competition and bet since we tied in battle. We shall compete for kills. Every Gillian is 10 points, Adjuchas is 100 points. Any random hollow we kill is 1 point.

Oh, yeah. If you use bankai, you lose 500 points.

If I win, you must challenge the lieutenant and become my second in command. If you win, I will assign all your paperwork to another one of the officers. What do you say?"

"I always wanted an assistant. But I don't want just anyone else to do my paperwork, I want you to do it. Feeling confident, Taichō?"

"Bring it, boy!"

With that agreement, the ambush where their lives were on the line had been turned into between the two. And it had officially begun.

---3 days later---

Two men in shredded clothing that was covered in blood were standing beneath. A black portal opened up above them which the two immediately entered.

"Make sure that you don't get left behind. I don't want to lose my new lieutenant that easily."

Ren made a grunt of agreement. They each made a bridge of reiatsu for themselves as they ran through the portal.