Playing With Other Supernaturals

Ichibei's expression of wanting to tear Kisuke apart was very obvious to the latter but both of them didn't move for a few minutes and just stared at each other.

After those few minutes, the first one to speak was Kisuke, "I was hoping that you'd just disappear into oblivion after that collapse."

Ichibei gritted his teeth and held his glave tightly. In the past, all of his opponents would have a hard time seeing whether his Zanpakuto was a brush or a blade. But now that his ability to control all [Black] in the world has disappeared, it just looks like a normal glave. This Zanpakuto has already lost its spirit, 'No. That's not right... It's debatable if that thing even had a spirit to begin with.' Kisuke thought to himself.

"You... What have you done?", muttered Ichibei, full of hate.

Kisuke Flash Stepped in front of him with his dagger aiming at Ichibei's neck.

While Ichibei lost his authority, he still had all the abilities of a normal Shinigami and much more because of the energy he retained. So after he cooled his head for a bit, it was easy for him to respond to Kisuke's actions, and was able to block the assault with ease.

Ichibei's right hand left his glaive and sent out a palm towards Kisuke's flank.

Kisuke managed to block the hand with his elbow, but it was still enough to send him flying to the side.

He immediately reoriented himself while bringing his palm pointing towards Ichibei, "Haien (Abolishing Flames)." A blast of purple flames burst forth from Kisuke's palms.

Ichibei calmly lifted his own palm and thrust it forward, materializing a transparent white palm of his size. The flames and palm collided and resulted in a large explosion. But that explosion was also instantly pushed away with the two fighters clashing their blades in the middle of it.

"Curious, aren't we?" Kisuke smirked while pushing his dagger towards him.

But instead of replying, Ichibei suddenly opened his mouth wide and a beam of white light ejected from it.

"!?" Surprised, Kisuke hurriedly shifted his head but at the same time, Ichibei's foot swiped his leg, forcing him to the trajectory of the beam. Thankfully, Kisuke was able to materialize his Hollow mask on the side of his face, and that took most of the brunt of the beam before being thrown off once again.

This time, Kisuke didn't continue his assault and instead retreated, "As expected, you still have a few tricks in your pocket. That would have been bad.", he said while wiping the blood that was streaming down the right side of his face.

It was at this moment that Ichibei realized that Kisuke's regenerative powers were not as potent as he'd displayed in the previous instances.

'Tiamat, it seems that I also can't call you.' Kisuke was forced to use a simple Healing Kidou to mend the wound on his face.

[Don't expect anything to go back to normal after pulling what's essentially a miracle. You've already burnt yourself out. It's actually a surprise that you can fight like normal.], was Tiamat's immediate reply, [Any longer and you'd be at a disadvantage. Finish him off. If you can't do it, it's time to give up and call for assistance.]

'I'd like to do that, but I first have to ascertain that he has no way of escaping. Inviting others would introduce more variables that Hyousube could possibly exploit and even though I have a way to end this, failing that may allow him to escape.' Kisuke replied while fending off Ichibei's attacks, 'I wouldn't hesitate like this if that's just annoying, but it's an actual disaster that would be brewing.'

Kisuke knew that if he let Ichibei get away at this point, he would have no way of preventing him from coming back, 'Once I'm sure, I just need one strike.'

Kisuke put more distance between them and Ichibei also soon stopped his assault, "To think that you'd hold back. You're too paranoid." Ichibei had completely calmed down, 'So that's how it is... Benihime, is it? Thank you for not cleaning up properly.'

Kisuke furrowed his brows and was incredibly bothered by his uncanny calmness. Nevertheless, he still had to figure him out and reopened their conversation to buy some time, "Don't you think it's strange? We both have the ability to consume, yet the result is wildly different from what you were expecting."

Ichibei stopped moving, remembering Kisuke's habit of explaining his tricks when his opponents had already fallen victim to them.

As a matter of fact, both of them are aware that they both need time and the first one to analyze the situation accurately will become the winner of their little contest.

"You see, my power to eat was fundamentally different than yours," Kisuke continued, "You can consume everything and anything, converting them into your own flesh and blood. That allowed you to grow beyond imagination and unlocked the Soul King's temporal ability. Most frighteningly, you didn't have limits or any conditions for these consumptions. You just open your mouth and everything would settle itself for your own benefit."

"Mine, on the other hand, was mired with conditions. To compare it to something mundane, you can just bite into anything and it'll be fine while I have to prepare the ingredients and cook them for me to even have a chance to eat."

Confident that he found his answer, Ichibei sat down with a mocking smile and asked, "But you were able to eat a part of me."

This demeanor of him is now making Kisuke nervous, 'What am I missing?', he asked himself. However, he didn't let that show on his face and continued talking, "Because you eat everything without a care in the world. Did you really think you'd be safe once you took something away from me?"

Ichibei thought about it for a moment and figured out the moment it went strange, "I see... That strange sea. That was [Black] but there's something else attached to it. But how is it different from my power to eat? You couldn't have defeated me just from the sheer volume that I could take in. With the amount you can consume and the conditions to trigger your ability, yours is obviously inferior to mine."

"Inferior? When did I say mine was inferior?" Kisuke wanted to laugh, "I've already said it in the beginning, our abilities work fundamentally differently. If what you eat is the contents, I eat the container."

"Container?" Ichibei was genuinely confused.