Consume: transitive verb, \kən-ˈsüm\
1. to do away with completely
2. to enjoy avidly
3. to engage fully
***
Lesson Two is pretty simple, really. Just sit down over there, close your eyes, and meditate for a while.
You can't be serious.
On the contrary, Ishida-kun, I've never been more serious in my entire life. You're only grasping a fraction of your power. To win in the Soul Society, you're going to have to do a lot more than that.
***
"Chire, Senbonzakura."
Uryū took a quick jump backwards in preparation for the release, and the sword in Kuchiki's hand dissolved at the blade into thousands of tiny projectiles. Each, Yoruichi had explained, was a tiny razor edge of its own, but the real danger in them was the way they could move, en masse, directed by nothing but the wielder's will. The light reflecting from each of the blades was supposedly the only thing that even made them visible, and each did indeed possess some kind of near-luminous pinkish tinge to it.
A mass of them rushed towards him, almost more liquid than solid in formation, and Uryū slipped into hirenkyaku, taking several steps in quick succession to avoid them. The blades were quick to redirect—much quicker than Renji's shikai had been, and Uryū strained the limits of his speed to stay ahead of them.
Still, for the moment he could do it, and so he wasted little time, changing altitude and direction as rapidly as his ability would allow, manifesting Ginrei Kojaku again and keeping up a steady barrage of arrows. He could fire perhaps a thousand at once, but for now, he kept it to a handful at a time, prodding at Kuchiki's defenses carefully. He didn't have a lot of time to figure out the ability; Yoruichi had only been able to give him the basics, and any vulnerabilities in the defense the blades provided was something he would have to discover on his own.
The tide of petal-blades split, one strand of it forming into a dome above Kuchiki to fend off the latest volley, while the other shot straight for Uryū. Flashing upwards, he pulled in a breath, drawing back the Seele Schneider in his left hand. The cool metal, warmed by the heat of his hand, brushed for just a moment over his cheek as he aimed, and then released with the exhale.
The arrow burned with a fierce blue light, scattering the strand of Kuchiki's shikai surging towards him, and then crashing into the shield over his head with a sound like dull thunder. The explosion kicked up a massive cloud of dust, and Uryū grimaced, pushing off a small platform of reishi under his foot and flipping himself over and back, feet over head, eyes locked on where he still felt Kuchiki's reiatsu.
"Too slow."
The words were the only warning he had—Kuchiki was right behind him, Uryū's reiatsu sense only at that moment registering the motion. A heavy elbow landed on his spine, and all of his momentum upwards disappeared. He hurtled for the ground, landing hard enough to crack the dirt and stone around him. His spine, somehow, remained intact.
Get up!
A minute whistling sound alerted him to the incoming blades, and Uryū pushed off the ground with both hands and a blast of raw reishi, propelling himself out of the crater he'd made and to the left, maneuvering his feet back under him with solidified discs of energy. He could feel the warm trickle of blood from his split lower lip, and pain radiated outwards from the place Kuchiki's hakuda had struck his back. Another few hits like that and he might not have the wherewithal to get up again.
أنت تقرأ
The Butterfly Effect
قصص الهواةThere is a principle in chaos theory that states that even a minute change in initial conditions can have a profound effect on the events that follow. Metaphorically, one might say instead that even a tiny drop in a pond may create wide ripples. Ich...
