22 - Unleashed "Princess"

A/N: Please check paragraph comments or chapter comment for illustration.

--------/--

Taking the little girl's advice, Rumi started running again with the boost of her wind reiatsu. Soon enough, she saw a few hollows on her tail and realized if she didn't move back then, she would've been encircled by those hollows.

Rumi couldn't help but smile a little at that. She found that without the pressure of the impending deadline to find her Zanpakuto spirit, she already felt much better and lighter, even though she knew she was still in the same amount of danger than a few minutes ago. Maybe the impending deadline had more effect on her than she realized. 

Shaking her head a little, Rumi focused herself on running. From time to time, she would look back and see if there was an opening to attack but unfortunately, she hadn't found a chance yet. 

There were three hollows chasing her, they were the ones she ran away from earlier. Rumi guessed she was quite lucky that there weren't any more extra hollows with them, since facing them earlier with more stamina and better condition was already hard enough. 

But, Rumi wasn't panicked yet. After a few minutes of rest, and talking with the little girl, her capacity to do Kido spells increased a bit again. Now, she could probably do ten spells of her normal strength and about five to six spells of enhanced spells. As for using in succession, she could probably do two or three spells in succession so it was enough for her to get away from three hollows if they caught up.

But since, she couldn't find an opportunity to kill each hollow, Rumi found that she would soon face at least four hollows the next time another hollow appeared in her path. As she expected, after a few meters, there was another big hollow in the corner. 

Rumi barely dodged its sudden attack from concealed state with the help of Mind's Momentum activated. 

Now, she had to face four hollows and it sure wasn't going to be easy. 

Rumi was about to use Kido spells and try to make a distraction, before trying to run away, but suddenly remembered the little girl's words. 

"Remember, next time you meet more of those hollows than you can handle alone, ask me to play." 

The little girl's words echoed in her mind, like a beacon of hope in the darkness. Could it really be that simple? Rumi's heart pounded as she glanced back at the pursuing hollows and the new hollow right around the corner, their grotesque forms drawing ever closer.

"Let's play..?" Rumi whispered. Holding her Asauchi tightly because she was mainly using Zanjutsu, she waited, her breath catching in her throat.

A gentle breeze began to swirl around her, lifting her silver hair and caressing her face. The breeze grew stronger, transforming into a whirlwind that enveloped her. Rumi's heart raced, her eyes wide with anticipation. She felt a familiar presence within the wind, a comforting yet powerful force.

"Just like my own reiatsu…," she thought, her eyes widening as the realization struck her.

Just like her own reiatsu had wind nature, her Zanpakuto spirit, the little girl had wind nature, in fact, she could turn herself into different forms of wind. At those times, she was the wind, she was the tornado, and now, she was the breeze playing with her hair.

At her realization, the breeze turned into a little whirlwind, before dissipating and revealing a little girl inside. She was about seven years old and had shoulder length, silver hair. She also had heterochromia where her left eye was light green and right eye was light blue. But, they way she resembled Rumi when she was younger felt like Rumi was looking at her child version. 

"You've been learning, Rumi." She smiled, "Now, let's play." 

"I want to, but I have to deal with the hollows first." Rumi replied, her voice steadying as she pointed to the approaching threats.

"I see, that's definitely a problem." The little girl agreed, then with a playful smile, she said, "Alright, I'll help you since you asked me to play, hehe. You just have to call out my name and ask me to play."

"My name is -"

As Rumi heard the name, the world snapped back into focus, and she saw the hollows mere seconds away. She held out her Asauchi, feeling a surge of energy coursing through her veins. "Let's play, Kazehime."

As soon as the words left her lips, her sword began to change. The sword had transformed into a sleek, elegant katana with a slightly longer and thinner blade than usual, like it was designed to cut through the air with minimal resistance. The blade was also adorned with intricate wind patterns etched along its length, which seem to shimmer and move as if it was alive when viewed from different angles. The hilt of the katana was wrapped in light blue and silver threads, evoking the colors of the sky and wind. At the end of the hilt, a small charm shaped like a swirling gust of wind was dangling, adding a touch of grace to the katana. 

(A/N : Illustration here)

Holding Kazehime, Rumi felt a rush of speed and power unlike anything she had ever experienced. Her body seemed to move on its own, faster and more fluidly than before. She appeared behind the three hollows in a flash, her blade cutting through the air with minimal resistance.

Three precise slashes, and the hollows dissipated into the air. Rumi stared at her sword in awe, feeling the immense power coursing through her. "Kazehime wasn't really lying when she said I'd become much stronger with Shikai."

The rush of speed enhancement, Rumi realized it was one of the powers of Kazehime's Shikai form. She intially thought since she had wind reiatsu, her Zanpakuto couldn't be that different but now that she was holding Kazehime, Rumi realized that her speed could be enhanced at least four times than her usual wind reiatsu speed and that wasn't even the limit yet. 

The three hollows were all dissipated into the air with three clean slashes whereas she had just been unable to hold her own well a few moments ago. The difference in power was simply too astonishing. 

With a satisfied smile, Rumi looked at the last hollow there. "Let's try something new, shall we?" 

Rumi decided to test out another power of her Shikai. It was probably Kazehime's uniqueness that she had four abilties in Shikai alone. Although it wouldn't be too easy to master all four of them, it was okay with Rumi. 

"Kaze no Yaiba. (Blade of Wind)" Multiple invisble blades of wind left the katana blade and charged towards the last hollow. As soon as they touched the hollow, they cut into its skin and soon, the hollow was cut through almost all the way. With majority of its body cut through, the hollow also dissipated into the air. 

"It's over..." Rumi sighed in relief, her heart still pounding with excitement and her grip on Kazehime still tight. 

She finally had her own Zanpakuto, Kazehime. 

"Thanks for playing with me, Kazehime." Rumi said.

A breeze circled her and played with her hair as Rumi said the words, and Rumi couldn't help but smile. Kazehime had heard her, and it seemed she was happy with it. 

As the impending danger was over for now, Rumi decided to quickly check System. Once she paid attention to System, she saw that she had notifications.

[Congratulations on completing the mission in seven days. One random skill and one random item will be received. Do you want to receive them now?] 

"Yes" Rumi answered, she wanted to know what she got already. 

[You have received an active skill, Falsifier, and Disguise Pendant.] 

At the end of the notification, Rumi felt that a silver necklace with cyan pendant fell onto her palm. 

'This must be the Disguise Pendant.' Rumi thought. The metal and pendant was cold to the touch and the pendant looked purely magical as she looked at it closely. 

After studying it for a while, Rumi decided to wear it on her neck, then put the pendant under her uniform. Then, she looked at the skill description of Falsifier. 

[Falsifier : It is a highly advanced skill that allows you to deceive the senses of other people around you, creating a false reality where only you know the truth. This ability enables the creation of highly convincing illusions that can affect sight, sound, touch, and even the perception of physical interactions depending on the level of skill mastery.

Powers:

1. Illusory Objects:

• You can create illusions of objects that appear real to all senses. A spear your hands may appear as a knife to the opponent, or you can make an illusion knife appear out of thin air when your hands in reality are empty.

• With advanced mastery, these illusions can be so convincing that targets believe they have physically interacted with them. For example, an opponent struck by an illusory sword may feel pain and see a wound, even though no physical damage has occurred.

2. Illusory People:

• You can create illusions of people who appear to interact with the environment. These illusory people can talk, move, and mimic real actions.

• With mastery, these illusions can also affect the target's perception of physical interaction. An illusory ally can seem to block attacks or push enemies, causing them to feel resistance or impact.

3. Environmental Illusions:

• You can alter the appearance of the environment, making it seem as though it has changed. This can include creating the illusion of walls, pits, fog, or other environmental features.

• Mastery of this ability allows you to make these illusions affect the target's physical sensations. For example, someone walking through an illusory wall might feel the resistance of the wall and believe they cannot pass through it.

4. Perception Manipulation:

• You can make targets believe they have suffered injuries or interacted with illusory objects and people. This can include feeling pain, seeing wounds, or experiencing fatigue.

• This manipulation can lead to targets believing they are more injured or exhausted than they actually are, giving you a significant psychological and tactical advantage.

5. Illusion Detection Immunity:

• You become highly sensitive to the illusions of others, making them immune to most forms of deception and illusion.

Limitations:

1. Energy Consumption:

• Maintaining detailed and large-scale illusions requires significant reiryoku. The more complex and widespread the illusion, the greater the energy cost. With longer activation of skill, the reiryoku cost would multiply.

2. Physical Interaction Limitation:

• Despite the illusions' convincing nature, they have no physical substance. Actual physical damage cannot be inflicted through these illusions, and real physical barriers cannot be created.

• Targets with high spiritual awareness or exceptional observational skills may detect inconsistencies, especially if they attempt prolonged physical interaction. 

3. Mastery Requirement:

• The ability to make targets believe in physical interactions and injuries requires a high level of mastery. Without sufficient mastery, the illusions may fail to convince perceptive or strong-willed individuals.

4. Reiryoku Signature:

• Powerful individuals with significantly higher reiatsu may be able to sense your reiatsu signature within the illusions, potentially alerting them to the deception.

5. Mental Strain:

• Creating and maintaining complex illusions, especially those involving perception manipulation, can cause significant mental strain. Prolonged use may lead to fatigue and impaired concentration.]

"Falsifier?" Rumi wasn't expecting to get such an ability. A skill that could even trick other's perception and senses sounded like a cheat skill, even more so when combined with immunoty to most deception and illusions. It also sounded extremely useful, especially when she suspected there were big conspiracies at play. Who knew when she would get involved and would get tricked? At least with this Falsifier skill, she could protect herself better.

Quite excited, Rumi continued to click on Disguise Pendant to check more details. 

[Description: A small, unassuming pendant that can be worn around the neck. When activated, it cloaks you in an illusion that changes your appearance or makes you blend into your surroundings.

Powers:

Appearance Alteration: The pendant allows you to change your physical appearance, mimicking the looks of others or creating entirely new disguises.

Environmental Blending: It can cloak you in an illusion that makes you blend seamlessly into the environment, providing effective camouflage.

Presence Suppression: The pendant can suppress your reiatsu signature, making it difficult for enemies to detect you spiritually.

Limitations:

Duration: The disguise can only be maintained for 24 hours before the pendant needs to recharge with your reiatsu. Recharge time depends on your usage and your reiatsu level.

Energy Consumption: Using the pendant's powers consumes spiritual energy, particularly when altering appearance significantly or blending into complex environments.] 

'I can alter my appearance and even reiatsu signature with this?' Rumi didn't expect to get such a good item either. With this, she could achieve spy missions so efficiently by infiltrating enemy's base like in the movies. It was quite an amusing idea, but what Rumi liked the most was the potential to disguise herself and get away in case of danger, making it a valuable life-saving trump card.

-----------

Shortly after receiving the rewards and figuring out how Falsifier worked, Rumi decided to put Kazehime back to the shealth and hurry back to the group. On her way, she did a quick math on how long it took and guessed that she took around fifty minutes. She had been running for her life for at least thirty minutes and it had been the closest she had come to death since coming to Soul Society. 

Rumi could still feel chills when she thought about it but if she was in that situation, what was the situation for Renji and her other friends? Was all the hollows targetting her or did some of them went over to attack the other students? 

As those questions plagued her mind, Rumi started to pick up the pace with Shunpo and wind reiatsu. Her speed wasn't as fast as when she was holding Kazehime but she hoped it was plenty enough.

When she got back to the group, the scene she saw made her fists clutch around her Zanpakuto. 

Rumi saw a huge hollow piercing its sharp nails into Kanisawa and shaking her like a ragged doll in the air. Kanisawa was dead, there was no way she'd be alive after this.

There were no other first year students in sight, except for Renji, Momo and Kira who seemed to be helping Hisagi.

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hado 31, Shakkaho."  Momo, Renji and Kira chanted at the same time, while shielding injured Hisagi. 

Their combined spell had created a rather big medium sized energy orb and it hit the huge hollow in its eyes. However, it wasn't enough to actually kill the hollow, instead only distracting it for a while. Rumi was about to jump in and finish it when she noticed the group heading to the direction she saw a few hollows earlier. She was in a hurry to make it back to the group that she couldn't find and kill all of the hollows. 

'I guess it'd be better to follow them.' Rumi thought. That way, she could help them in case they got encircled. 

Rumi quietly followed them while trying to detect other hollows. It didn't do much because those hollows somehow learned to hide their reiatsu.

Soon, Momo and others found that things were getting blurry in the area and saw the concealed hollows showed themselves. 

"Five...five big hollows.." Momo muttered, her voice was starting to shake.

"Damn it, we are not strong enough to kill them." Renji said.

"I have contacted Soul Society just earlier..Help should arrive soon. We just have to.."

The biggest hollow out of the five raised its hands, and Hisagi moved forward to protect the three first years. 

"Hisagi senpai.." 

The three wanted to do something,  Momo wanted cast a Kido spell, Kira and Renji wanted to attack it with their Asauchi but knew they were way too weak to do anything. 

Just now, Hisagi was about to say that they just had to hold on for a while until help arrived but they started to doubt if they could do that for another minute.

When their hope was about to be lost, they saw a figure jump in front of them. 

"Need a hand here?" Rumi asked with a playful smile. She internally sighed in relief at her decision to follow them from the shadows. 

"Rumi! Why're you here?"

"Fujiwara, back off...these hollows..they aren't something you can handle." Hisagi said with gritted teeth. Even if he had to die here, he had to save these first year students. It was his responsibility...

"I think it's okay." Rumi replied, then turned to Renji, Momo and Kira and said, "I'll show you guys something cool."

"What-"

Rumi smiled and drew her Zanpakuto, then said the release command, "Let's play, Kazehime." 

At the release command, her Zanpakuto had changed from sealed state into its Shikai state again. It was just as beautiful as the first time and its power remained just as strong. 

With its enhanced speed, Rumi reappeared behind the hollows and with one slash each, she swiftly cut through them all with little resistance. Her movements were swift and fluid, and her form flowed with the wind so rhythematically that it looked like she was dancing in the air. 

As Kazehime slashed each hollow, they dissipated into the air without another chance to move or attack. 

The moon light was shining on Rumi's figure as she swiftly moved. It was simply too beautiful of a sight, with her silver hair moving with the wind and her movements synchronized with the wind. 

Landing back on the ground in front of everyone, Rumi flashed a grin, "How was it?"

Renji's eyes were widened in disbelief, as if he was thinking how the heck she did that. 

Momo was quite surprised and so was Kira. 

Out of everyone. Hisagi was the one to receive the most significant emotional blow. He didn't expect Rumi to achieve Shikai before graduating and what's more ridiculous was it had only been two months since she was given an Asauchi. Meanwhile, he was already a sixth year, but he had yet to learn the name of his Zanpakuto spirit. Had he wasted his six years? Hisagi even started to doubt himself a little.

"You...you've already awakened your Zanpakuto?" Hisagi said, still in shock of what he had seen.

"Yeah," Rumi replied with a proud smile. "Isn't she pretty?" Rumi said, waving her Zanpakuto.

"Oi, don't wave your Zanpakuto around!" Renji shouted. 

"Why?" Rumi asked, "I think it's pretty fun!" 

"Seriously.."

"But Fujiwara san is so amazing." Momo said, "You're really good at Kido and now, you even awakened your Zanpakuto." 

"Oi, Hinamori, you're gonna get her ego bigger." Renji said.

"Just say you're jealous Renji." Rumi said playfully. 

"Like I would!" Renji shouted but his eyes lingered on Rumi's Zanpakuto. In his mind, he swore that he would catch up soon and get his Zanpakuto. 

"Fujiwara, about the barrier unit..." Hisagi started. He wanted to ask what happened to barrier unit but at the same time, he could more or less guess what happened to them. Otherwise, Rumi wouldn't have taken this long or suddenly get her Shikai. It must've been unleashed when she was faced with danger by herself, Hisagi deduced. 

It couldn't be that she had her Shikai all this time, because otherwise, the news would be all over Seireitei already. Sure, there was a possibility that Rumi had kept a secret but Rumi's proud smile indicated that she had just got her own Shikai and was proud of it.

At Hisagi's question about the barrier unit, Rumi sighed, "Just like you're thinking, everyone in the barrier unit was killed. The scene was quite brutal." 

"Damn, everyone was killed?!" Renji exclaimed, "Were they all killed by those giant hollows?"

Rumi paused at that. Should she share what she found out or would it be better to keep it a secret to herself? 

----------------

A/N : Finally, Shikai is here!

I was so excited about this, so hope it's as exciting for you guys haha

Again, if you haven't seen Shikai illustration yet, please check chapter comments.

And leave comments about her Shikai, coz i'm excited to hear some opinions/comments on Shikai.

Also Kazehime means Wind Princess, hence the chapter title.

Kaze no yaiba is wind blade.