"That's a solid sword." Shirou commented and readied his stance again. "Now show me how you can wield it, Ichigo!"
This time, he started slow and jabbed one sword at him.
Instead of blindly charging ahead like earlier, Ichigo calmly countered each strike with measured precision, keeping both parties within striking distance of each other.
He moved his sword smoothly despite its large size, defending his side effortlessly without any difficulty whatsoever. Then, as soon as Shirou thrust his second sword, he stepped back slightly and blocked the incoming blow.
They clashed twice more after that.
Every clash between their weapons sent a shockwave, knocking every loose object nearby away.
Clang!
Another collision occurred. More forceful than ever before! They collided multiple times afterward. A fury of slashes ensued as blades clashed repeatedly against one another, creating thunderous crashing sounds echoing throughout the caverns below.
Each swing grew faster than previous ones until it reached a certain point where their swords blurred out completely.
Neither of them showed signs of giving up however. Each strike delivered powerful blows capable of injuring someone gravely or perhaps even killing them instantly depending on how unlucky they were.
Suddenly—Shirou's swords shattered.
"Huh?" Ichigo looked bewildered by what happened, not knowing why his brother's swords broke first instead of his own.
As a result, he stopped for a moment, hesitating to attack his defenseless brother with his sword.
That was a mistake.
"You can't stop moving in a fight."
Shirou traced another pair of Kanshou and Bakuya in less than a second and attacked his defenseless brother.
"Argh!"
Ichigo screamed in pain when Shirou slashed him from top to bottom diagonally with the new set of Chinese swords. He fell to the ground, clutching his chest while grimacing painfully at the wound.
"Don't overreact, Ichigo. I made sure to dull the edge of my sword beforehand." Shirou informed calmly as he approached his fallen sibling.
Hearing that, Ichigo looked down and realized he wasn't bleeding. There was a wound, of course, but it seemed very shallow thanks to the dull edges on his weapon.
"Ghh..." Ichigo grumbled under his breath as he tried to stand up.
Shirou sighed tiredly before reaching out his free hand to help his twin up. Ichigo glanced at his outstretched arm and took it hesitantly. When both brothers stood together again, Ichigo glared at Shirou angrily, glaring daggers at him.
"What was that?! You came to me as if you were trying to kill me!"
"I was just testing your reaction time during combat." He shrugged indifferently.
"Combat my ass!" The orange head roared furiously, pointing his large sword threateningly towards his older twin, "Your sword almost killed me!"
"Look, Ichigo. Real fights aren't like martial arts competitions. Your enemy will use whatever trick to win the match." Shirou sighed and explained, "And I believe you will get stronger through combat. Look, you have found your sword. Now you only need to know its name to unleash its power."
That somehow made sense while it sounded absurd at the same time.
Ichigo growled angrily but refrained from retaliating violently. His rage subsided eventually after realizing he wouldn't gain anything if he continued lashing out.
"... Fine," he muttered reluctantly. "Let's continue then. Next time don't go easy on me."
"Alright. Let's hope you'll grow much better with that sword."
Both of them continued. Ichigo attacked first with a wide arching swing aimed at Shirou's shoulder, only to be deflected casually away from him.
Their clash resumed as before. Both siblings were engaged in heated combat, neither showing signs of stopping anytime soon.
Shirou's swords shattered a few times due to it being a mere projection. But he immediately created a new projection everytime it happened.
They exchanged countless strikes, countering each other's blows flawlessly without missing a beat nor wasting energy unnecessarily. Their movements flowed naturally with one another, mirroring each other perfectly like mirror image reflection.
A few shallow cuts and bruises began to appear on Ichigo's skin, courtesy of Shirou's relentless assault.
Eventually, they separated temporarily to catch their breath and collect themselves once more.
Then...
"Fshuuu.... Fshuuu..."
A low rumbling sound echoed behind Ichigo. He glanced behind to find the source of the noise but nothing was there except for darkness surrounding him.
He felt unnerved by whatever lurked within shadows lurking behind him; it sent chills running down his spine.
Something wanted him to turn back around.
As much as he wanted to deny it, his instinct told him that something terrible was about to happen. Something ominous lurked somewhere nearby waiting patiently for him.
"Ichigo... Call me..."
A voice echoed in the depths of Ichigo's consciousness.
"Ichigo..."
Power surged forth as Ichigo gripped tightly onto his sword. He looked at Shirou in the distance and raised his sword. His reiatsu peaked higher and higher. He felt like he could unleash something, an attack greater than any of his attacks before.
Sensing his brother's reiatsu, Shirou also prepared himself. He lowered his stance and pointed both of his swords to him.
"GETSUGA-"
Ichigo swung his sword downward. The movement itself wasn't special, just a basic downward slash.
"-TENSHO!"
But the slash generated a huge crescent wave of blue light, barreling straight towards the twin swords wielder.
Shirou's eyes widened. He crossed his twin swords in front of him as he braced for impact. The crescent wave was unbelievably huge and powerful, destroying every obstacle in its path with ease and gouging the ground.
"Rho Aias!"
Five petal shields appeared before Shirou as the crescent wave slammed against it.
A shockwave rang out accompanied by a resounding blast as the attack collided with the shield.
Despite being powerful enough to destroy almost anything in its path, Rho Aias stood strong and dispersed the attack.
Dust billowed everywhere. After the dust cleared, Shirou saw Ichigo looking blankly at him, looking surprised.
"What in the world was that?" He murmured quietly. His voice sounded distant despite standing mere meters apart.
His brother remained silent but smiled slightly nevertheless.
Meanwhile, Rukia and Urahara watched everything from afar.
"My~ Shirou-kun surely knows what he's doing," Urahara chuckled, landing near the twins. "Nice attack, Ichigo-kun! Looks like you managed to awaken your Shikai."
"This is... my Shikai?" Ichigo muttered in confusion. "... Whoa..."
"You've done well." Shirou patted Ichigo's shoulder and smirked lightly, "Congratulations."
"Th... Thanks..."
Ichigo's cheeks flushed faintly, feeling rather embarrassed about receiving such praise from his brother whom usually treated him roughly. He coughed awkwardly and averted his gaze elsewhere.
"Now you only need to figure out your zanpakutou name." Urahara smiled encouragingly. "Have you heard anything?"
Ichigo scratched his head and nodded. When he felt that strange presence, he also heard his zanpakuto's name. Someone whispered it to him, as if the being was trying to remind him of the name.
He looked at his sword and said, "Zangetsu... That is his name."
Rukia couldn't help but gulp nervously. The boy's progress was far faster than any Shinigami she knew.
'What did I do?' She thought. 'What kind of monster did I just awaken? And who is Shirou? He couldn't be a normal human if he's able to defend against that burst of reiatsu.'
**Chapter End**
Why did the old book disappear? Because it's been blocked!
Someone must've reported it for something, and boom, disappear (because of advertisement/spam) apparently. The staff is also in public holiday today, which suck. I can't make it return so I make a new one.
So give me stones, please. This is quite a setback, I even think of stopping earlier, but no. I know you guys can make it return to where it had been before, top 10 baby! Let's goo!