Chapter 354: Mazuru vs. Azashiro (3)
Kenpachi Azashiro didn’t utter a single word.
From his demeanor alone, he seemed like the type of man who reveled in the paradox of Versailles-style modesty—someone who downplayed his power while casually showcasing it.
First, he claimed that becoming a ’Kenpachi’ was easy. Then, he added that he didn’t particularly enjoy close-quarters combat. But when Mazuru actually fought him, he discovered a very different reality: Kenpachi Azashiro’s swordsmanship was monstrous.
It was as if every Kenpachi—no matter how much they claimed otherwise—was born to excel in close combat.
Especially when paired with that unique Zanpakutō. A blade that wasn’t just forged steel, but a weapon formed from pure, condensed reiatsu pushed to its absolute limit. Even a casual swing from him was a terrifying strike of immense magnitude. Each slash he delivered shook the battlefield, carving the air and space with precision and explosive power.
This didn’t just affirm his cutting prowess—it proved something even more critical: his reiatsu was unimaginably dense and vast.
But when you traced back his origin, none of this should have come as a surprise.
He was, after all, a former prisoner of the Muken, the deepest level of the Central Underground Prison. No one made it to Muken without being an irredeemably powerful threat. You had to be strong—dangerously strong—to even warrant that kind of containment.
As Mazuru dodged one of Kenpachi Azashiro’s terrifying slashes, he simultaneously raised his own Reiatsu. The blade in his hand—his Chi no Kawa—began to glow with a deep crimson hue, gradually brightening until it blazed like a blood-red comet.
This weapon was neither a standard Zanpakutō nor an arrancar’s typical Resurrección. After the climactic battle in Hueco Mundo over a year ago—when Yamamoto Genryusai’s final Bankai incinerated his Zanpakutō beyond repair—Mazuru had abandoned the traditional blade. His power, instead, had found a new vessel.
That vessel was something very close to an arrancar’s Resurrección, but not at the same time. It carried no formal classification, but it inherited the full might of his original Zanpakutō—perhaps even surpassed it.
Mazuru swung.