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This article, To Catch a Weasel, is the tenth chapter of the Kagamino City arc, which is part of Bleach: Sun and Moon Chronicles. This particular chapter features Shiju Shūdō and Joel Félix as the protagonist and antagonist respectively. Kenji serves in a minor capacity.
The blue-skinned Arrancar's sudden attack on Kenji was the spark that lit the powder keg! The Arrancar's fellow Privaron Espada, Joel Félix, was a fully-masked boyish-looking figure dressed in the white of Aizen's Arrancar. He took his scythe-shaped Zanpakutō in-hand and joined his comrade in an attack aimed at Kenji's exposed back.
"Bad idea." Kenji advised, in a near-whisper.
Kenji traced his movements but made no movement to intercept the attack or defend himself, for he had no need to. Sparks flew as a Zanpakutō sporting a deep red hilt and crossguard, criss-crossed with knife-like protrusions coming out of it in a hexagonal shape, intercepted and parried the strike. Kenji's grin was deep.
"Thank you much, Shiju."
Heaving forward Kenji sent his blue-skinned opponent trailing backwards before flashing Shiju a thumbs-up.
"Not a problem, Kenji." Shiju responded with a thumbs up using his left hand as he batted away Joel's zanpakutō with an extended swing of his own. Looking over at the Arrancar, although Shiju was initially perturbed by his figure being childish, he knew very well not to underestimate his enemies.
"Got a name, Arrancar? Mine's Shiju." Shiju asked his enemy, the blond clutching his zanpakutō with both hands and keeping it level with his waist, facing his enemy without any hesitation.
"Joel Félix, and it'll the last name you ever hear!"
"Watch him." Kenji advised. "If I'm any judge he's a scheming back-stabber who'd sell his own mother to get ahead."
Any further comments from Kenji where silenced as his own battle ramped up in intensity. Though it seemed that Kenji wasn't far off the mark. This Joel person was as hot-headed as they came. The moment he was batted away by Shiju he spun in-place and lashed out with his free hand, declaring "Navaja", as roughly ten to fifteen razor-sharp little blades flew towards Shiju!
Despite the blades being small in size, Shiju knew very well not to underestimate anything his opponents threw at him. He propelled himself forward at the same time as the small projectiles were sent, using his neutral stance as the anchor to move his sword in all directions that his vision could influence. His fast strokes managed to dispel the potential impact of the projectiles through cutting their very center. Due to focusing on those in his immediate line of sight, along with his forward movement, the rest of the imprecisely shot projectiles zoomed past him. Their subsequent impact on the buildings and the major crashes Shiju heard affirmed his caution, before focusing fully on his new enemy.
It took but a moment, but Shiju submerged into a foreign state of mind, heightening his awareness while relaxing his body. At the end of his straight dash, Shiju's sword loosely swayed to his left, before Shiju's grip tightened on his sword and he slashed forward in a diagonal line, hoping to land a critical blow on his adversary from the get-go.
"Too slow, Shinigami!"
Joel merely glanced in Shiju's direction. What occured next could be best described as an eye-based form of Cero. A small, concussive, and quick-firing blast of red spiritual energy impacted Shiju's sword; the force it carried was enough to interfere with his forward charge and disturb the rhythm of his sword-arm. With that accomplished Joel ducked beneath the now wayward strike before utilizing Sonído to move towards Shiju's back, where he aimed to cut down through his opponent with his Cero-wreathed scythe!
Despite his strike failing, Shiju observed the movement of his enemy and, with reflexes enhanced from his state of tranquility, had his right hand move behind him in a single, smooth, motion. During this process, Shiju voiced "Seki." Immediately, a small, azure, spherical barrier was erected at the area where Joel's scythe would travel through. While incapable of fully dampening the attack, the sudden rebound that occurred from the repelling sphere caused the energy laquering his enemy's scythe to disperse. In response, Shiju rotated his entire body 180 degrees, gripping his blade near his chest and having its tip pointed towards Joel, in an attempt to charge through the scattered energy left by Joel and land a critical blow towards his chest.
It seemed that Kenji's earlier claim was spot on the money: Joel was nothing if not tricky, and his next action echoed that perfectly. He utilized Sonído to subtlety change his trajectory. Instead of his chest Shiju's blade was now poised to graze his face and when it did so the mask covering the lower left jaw portion of Joel's mask simply broke away!
"You are mine."
Joel's spiritual power spiked suddenly! The boost enabled him to escape from the remainder of Shiju's strike with little more than a cut face. He shifted himself to Shiju's back before rapidly changing his locaton again, all the while loosing a number of razor-sharp little blades every time he moved.
The sudden exposure to Joel's rise in spiritual energy seemingly broke Shiju's trance-like state. However, Shiju's eyes could not follow the rise in Joel's speed. Without hesitation, Shiju began to utilize an omni-directional series of slashes for a momentary defense while chanting "Perceive All of Creation, Minarai!"
With a sudden rise in spiritual energy of his own, the hilt of Shiju's blade seemingly shattered away from its sealed state, glowing a brilliant gold as the hilt's four protrusions split apart and grew to half of Shiju's blade length, suddenly following every single one of Joel's razor sharp blades without Shiju's conscious command, while Shiju leaped atop the floating — former — center of Minarai's hilt, levitating and thus gaining some distance away from the Arrancar.
Soon after his small blades had repelled the blades sent out by Joel, they had returned to Shiju's side, floating around him in all four directions. Shiju once again calmed himself, synchronizing himself fully with the movements of his zanpakutō, their harmony erecting a serene blue aura to radiate from his being: Shiju had become serious.
"Is that your Shikai, Shinigami?" Joel asked.
He was pacing in the skyline above Kagamino. His expression showed well his surprise, though the sudden glint in those eyes spoke of something else completely. Joel was curious; he was obviously trying to figure out this "Minarai" as quickly as possible. And if that meant momentarily stalling then so be it.
"I am not impressed."
Shiju, without hinting at any of his movements, suddenly disappeared from Joel's line of sight. He appeared right before his eyes, with his sword already above his head. As soon as he had stopped his motion, Shiju's blade descended towards Joel's body, in an attempt to perform a severely powerful slash. Although, by staying within Joel's line of vision, Shiju's Shikai repositioned into a direct line behind him, with the intent on protecting him from whatever threat that would come his way.
So much for buying some time. Joel had been caught napping. As he slid backwards blood glistened on the edge of Shiju's blade, and the snarl that escaped Joel's throat was predatory. He had been slashed from shoulder to hip; blood seeped from the wound, his breaths came in shallow gasps, and he looked irritated.
"That was a mistake... Shinigami!"
Joel subsequently shattered roughly seventy-five percent of his mask -- all that remained was a portion covering his right eye. His spiritual energy suddenly soared! It was as if the tap had been turned to full-blast. With renewed strength he opted for a frontal assault as he fired his yellow-coloured Cero from his scythe's edge!
Minarai's fragments, which had lined up behind Shiju, swiftly appeared before him and attached together to form a simplistic shuriken-shaped shield, without the hollow center. The Cero collided with the shield and pushed it back with Shiju, but he swiftly placed his palm on it and softly spoke "Enkōsen." The word resulted in a large circular barrier to push itself off of the shield, simultaneously deterring the Cero and causing it to fly over Shiju's person, although the concentrated energy inevitably caused the left side of his barrier to be blown aback, causing notable burns across his left arm.
Knowing full well that this new form was on another level than his opponent's previous, Shiju once again maintained a stationary form, awaiting for his opponent's arrogance to take the stage.