Chapter 5: Blown Apart With One Punch
Boom!
The fists collided, neither yielding an inch, and the sight made everyone's pupils shrink in shock.
A thunderous collision sound rolled outwards.
The massive, millstone-sized fist halted for an instant.
The next moment, the sound of cracking bones and splattering blood erupted, accompanied by a collective gasp.
The demon's enormous body burst like a balloon pierced by limitless force.
BOOM!
A shower of flesh and blood exploded outwards, causing the faces of the demons who had been rushing forward to instantly pale with horror.
Even the ground beneath trembled as if in fear.
No one could believe that a ghost of such monstrous size had been obliterated by a single punch.
"Run! Get out of here, now!" the Black Raider Kazama screamed in terror.
He finally understood they had truly kicked an iron plate this time.
However, before they could even react, Kuroba had already rushed into the evil spirits with unsteady steps.
He swung his body and arms, as if unleashing the force of ten thousand pounds.
Thwump!
A three-to-four-meter-tall demon was the first to be flung away. It shot out like a cannonball, bowling over the other demons in its path.
Five or six demonic figures piled together before finally crashing headlong into the abandoned city wall.
Bang!
Another brilliant flower of blood bloomed.
Another explosion of blood and flesh erupted, painting the earth crimson.
The scene resembled a bloody hell—utter carnage—in contrast to Kuroba's slender body.
In that moment, they finally understood Kuroba hadn't been lying from the very beginning.
When he drank, he hit far too hard.
It wasn't just about killing someone; it was enough to blow them apart.
"Y-you... stay back! Or else I'll kill her!" Kazama's voice trembled as he realized his massive frame was more a burden than an asset.
Especially seeing the drunken Kuroba, swaying with each step, yet moving at a speed far surpassing his own.
The shadow of death descended directly upon his heart.
The distance between them closed relentlessly, leaving no chance of escape. A flash of madness lit Kazama's eyes. With a roar, he seized a door-sized greatsword from the ruins behind him, spun around, and leapt into the air, ready to strike.
"Brat! Since you're forcing a fight to the death, even if I have to burn my soul, I'll drag you down with me!"
ROAR!
Kazama bellowed, a red light erupting from his entire body.
His seven-to-eight-meter frame suddenly swelled to over ten meters. His exposed skin turned as if stained with blood. His arms bulged once more,looking as if the muscles might tear through the skin at any moment.
Gripping the massive, door-sized blade he'd pulled from the rubble, he brought it down on Kuroba with all his might.
The spectacular, terrifying scene was reflected in Rukia's eyes.
Snapping out of her daze, she was stunned.
An absurd thought flashed through her mind.
He's not going to punch through that too, is he?
As this jumbled thought crossed her mind, Kuroba hiccuped, turned his long-empty wine gourd upside down and shook it, then casually tossed it towards the charging Kazama.
Whoosh-BOOM!
The jug shot forward like a rocket, smashing head-on against the massive blade.
The door-sized weapon shattered, and the jug, still carrying force, struck Kazama.
CRUNCH!
The giant head exploded. Only the lower half of his body crumpled backward in a deafening crash.
The remaining evil spirits scattered like terrified birds.
Silence fell over the ruins..
Rukia stood there, utterly dumbfounded.
She had witnessed all kinds of battles.
But this simple, brutal method of blowing enemies apart with punches undoubted Rukia's understanding.
She had thought this was an inescapable death trap, completely unable to imagine it would be resolved by a drunkard.
"Rukia! Are you alright?"
A figure rushed over quickly, landing on the battlefield.
He first glanced at Rukia, confirming she wasn't critically injured, then his nose wrinkled. "Rukia, since when did your fighting style become so brutal, its just like those guys from the 11th Division..."
"Isn't that the demon Kazama? You actually took him down too? Looks like you've gotten stronger during this time we haven't trained together!"
In the Soul Society, which had been relatively peaceful and uneventful lately, the appearance of a mutated demon like the Black Raider Kazama in the Rukongai had undoubtedly become a focus for many capable Shinigami.
After all, in peacetime, this was rare combat merit, a path for commoners to advance.
"Renji? What are you doing here?" Rukia exhaled in relief. Renji Abarai, her childhood companion and current 6th Seat of the 11th Division, possessed combat power far beyond Rukia's.
His timely appearance at least spared Rukia the worry of the demons returning to attack.
"I was on leave and ran into Captain Kuchiki. He mentioned you were in North Rukongai's 80th District, so I came to check on you," Renji explained hurriedly.
"Captain Kuchiki is here too...?"
"Brother?" Rukia's face changed slightly.
She soon saw Byakuya Kuchiki, dressed in his noble's haori, his expression cold and aloof, standing atop a ruined structure. He had appeared at some point, looking down at the scene below.
"Did you do all this?" he asked.
As a Captain-level figure, Byakuya clearly saw much more than Renji.
"Captain Kuchiki, of course this is the result of Rukia's training! Who else could it be?" Renji said, scratching his head and laughing.
As a childhood friend, Renji knew well that besides his own desperate desire to get stronger, Rukia also wanted to gain Byakuya's recognition through her own improvement.
"Rukia," Byakuya said impassively, "tell me, did someone else intervene and save you just now? As a noble, I hope you will not deceive yourself. The residual spiritual pressure here belongs only to you, but it is very faint. You likely didn't even have time to release your Shikai before the opponent ended the battle, correct?"
Shikai?
Rukia was stunned. The sudden twists of the battle had made her completely forget she could even use Shikai.
But faced with Byakuya's questioning, Rukia, without time for self-reproach, hurriedly explained: "Captain Kuchiki... these demons really weren't killed by me."
"They... they were blown apart by Shiba Kuroba... with one punch..."
Rukia considered trying to find a more fitting way to describe what had just happened.
But the brutal, unrestrained fighting style left her no time for careful words, and she blurted out exactly what came to mind.
Whether it was Abarai Renji or Kuchiki Byakuya, both froze in place, their expressions locked in shock.
Blown up with one punch?
What kind of madness was this?
If they hadn't heard it with their own ears, they would never have believed it.
After all, Rukia had always been the timid, cautious type.
And yet here, she was the one saying something so outrageous.