King Of Shinigamis - [Rewrite]

Chapter 13: Hidden Past and Hidden Truth

Recap: After eating their fill, the four of them were, again, falling through the sky. Tumbling and fighting with each other, they had been screaming ever since they had been launched from Kirio's dining hall. They landed with a crash, though they remained in better condition than they had done before. Rising to their feet, they stared around the wooden platform on which they had arrived.

There was no one in sight.

"Where is everyone?" Altria asked, looking around himself.

"Not a clue," Renji muttered in response. "Maybe everyone is inside the castle..."

"Yo! Yo! Yo! Yo!" A voice suddenly blared, enthusiastically, from some kind of sound system. "Welcome, welcome, one and all! Welcome to the Hōōden! The magnificent abode ooooooof~! Go, Shi, San, Ni-maiya! Ōetsu!"

Chapter 13: Hidden Past and Hidden Truth

Muken.

The lowest level of the central underground prison of the Seireitei. A vast and expansive plane of barren earth, located hundreds upon hundreds of feet beneath Squad One's barracks.

A horrible environment reserved only for the worst of the worst criminals.

Kenpachi Zaraki walked through the entrance; the heavy steel doors slamming behind him, closing off the darkness. His eyepatch was already removed and his sword was slung over his shoulder, the chipped blade reflecting a deformed visage of his face. His mouth was twisted into a psychotic grin.

"Ha!" He laughed, looking around himself. "What a showy battlefield. How'd you manage to swing this?"

"It was an order from the new Head Captain," his opponent replied softly. "It wasn't that difficult." An eerily calm chuckle filled the air. "As the name indicates, this area is entirely closed off. It's almost infinitely vast and barren. It's a perfect field for you to freely swing your sword."

Yachiru Unohana turned towards Kenpachi. Her eyes were hooded and filled with sadistic malice. "That is the only reason we were permitted to enter here," she continued. "Usually, such a pleasure is only reserved for the most heinous of criminals."

"Criminals, huh...?" Kenpachi grunted, beginning to walk forwards. "Then we should feel right at home... 'Cause if it wasn't for our strength, we would be nothing more than that!"

"Of course," Unohana said, her voice soft and chilling. "That is why I was the one who suggested this place."

"That's what I figured," Kenpachi said, grinning. Removing his sword from his shoulder, he held it at arm's length. He glanced around the Muken one final time. "I like it. I win and I'm a Captain; I lose and I'm a criminal. Either way... fighting you is going to be like my own little piece of heaven and hell."

"You're awfully talkative today," Unohana replied, smiling sweetly. "I prefer it when you're quiet." Untying the braid which adorned the front of her body, the Captain of Division Four allowed her hair to flow freely, revealing a horrific stab wound in the centre of her chest. "Whenever you talk, it makes this old wound sting."

Kenpachi reached up and stroked the scar running down the left side of his face, grinning wildly. "Don't think you're the only one with an old wound aching."

Both of them smiled and lunged at each other.

Their blades clashed in a blaze of sparks. Metal grated against metal as they ground their swords against one another. Beneath their feet, rocks cracked from the force of the strikes.