They Who Cut the Heavens!

The wind blows fiercely through the outskirts of the Rukongai.

An ominous omen is in the air. Two figures, separated by mere yards, stand apart from each other in the fields of Soul Society's larger outskirts. Not a single word passes between them. Not yet anyways. Both don the telling garb of a Shinigami captain. One, a towering behemoth of a man, is stricken by great intrigue and what seems to be great anticipation. The other, a much smaller man, smoking a small cigarette, appears entirely uninterested: standing with his back towards the goliath behind him. Though seemingly nothing but silence and wind passes between them, the air is alive with tension. The tension of two tremendous spiritual energies colliding against one another, vying for dominance.

Unnoticed to the untrained eye, their swords—which the larger man is holding, whilst the other still has his sheathed—are trembling under this tremendous power struggle. Nevertheless, both men keep their composure. When the small Captain at last begins to speak, however, a cold chill passes through the air; seemingly halting time itself.

"Zaraki Kenpachi?" the smaller man says, breathing a cloud of smoke from his joint. "Did the old bag let you off your leash again?"

"Keh!" The behemoth revealed to be Zaraki chuckles. "I've come here on my own."

"Have you now?" the smaller man makes no indication he's surprised or in the least bit concerned. In fact, he appears rather annoyed. "I didn't think beasts were capable of free will."

"You once bore the name of Kenpachi, did you not?" Zaraki interjects, ignoring the man's insults.

Another puff of nicotine-laced smoke, "And?"

The man named Kenpachi Zaraki's grin widened, almost psychotic in nature, "My blade craves your blood!"

The smaller man turns.

"Getsueikirite Raian!" Zaraki finishes, dragging out the man's name with intense bloodlust.

"You really are an animal." Raian snarls back. "Let me take a gander as to your interest in me. The war has shed light on my former identity. You seek to challenge me. It is true. I once bore the name 'Kenpachi' in a day and age long before your time. It, however, was merely a title."

"You're pretty fuckin' dense!" Zaraki cries out.

Suddenly, the enormous Shinigami flashes forward. The man is a monster. A beast. An animal with nothing to rely on but pure battle instinct. And so, the behemoth Kenpachi swings down on the smaller captain, whom has yet to draw his weapon in self-defense. The mere swing of Zaraki's blade ignites a shockwave, blasting debris, chunks of earth, into the sky, all the while causing the very air itself to tremble. Surely, the swing would be felt for miles around. Nevertheless, the goliath notices that his sword will not move. The blade chatters like the teeth of a horrified child as the smoke begins to drift off in another intense gale of wind.

The man called Raian has stood his ground. Though the man still smokes his cigarette, he has raised his right hand and physically prevented Zaraki's blade from reaching his person, holding it firmly in place with monstrous strength and resolve. When he looks up, an almost demonic look in his eyes, he flicks his wrist, tossing the enormous captain backwards with enough force to generate a like-minded shockwave, which blasts through the nearby bedrock—once again causing the very air to tremor.

"Hey, hey, hey!" the suddenly excited voice of Zaraki rings out from the newest cloud of debris. "That's what I'm fuckin' talkin' about!"

"Zaraki Kenpachi." Raian speaks up. "Leave this place. It is unsightly for two captains of our stature to battle like animals."

"Don't make me laugh!" Zaraki belches. "I saw it in your eyes just now."

Raian's eyes narrow.

"You want this as badly as I do." Zaraki's grin gets wider. "You're fuckin' itchin' to kill me! There can only be one Kenpachi!"

Raian's hand unconsciously travels down to his blade, where his hand tightly grips the sheathe. Zaraki takes notice of this and tightens the grip on his own hilt, bringing the blade up into an opening stance. Suddenly, the very ground of Soul Society begins to quiver. The dimension itself quakes in fear. An eerie glow surrounds both swordsman. Their power radiates into the very air, enriching it with mind-numbing pressure. Above, thunder booms, and then there is a drop of rain. This rain turns quick into a downpour, but neither man notices it. Their own spiritual pressure is pushing the very droplets of rain away from their bodies.

"Very well, Zaraki Kenpachi." Raian hisses with bloodlust. "Let us go back to a time... when I was the strongest Shinigami in a generation!"

"That's it Battōsai!" Zaraki squeals even as he launches himself towards his equally murderous opponent. "Let's see what ya fuckin' got!"

With that, Raian tears his blade free of its sheathe, just in time to strike against Zaraki's own weapon. The collision of the two superpowers changes the very landscape. Land, foliage, and the rain falling from the sky are blasted into a large column of debris mixed with spiritual power, in a column that could be seen from the very palace in Seireitei.

A deadly fight to the death begins.

They are Kenpachi.