Bleach: Cero Devastador

Murasaki and I went on our own way through the night. He looked half asleep, I had to slap the back of his head a few times to put him alert. He eventually got annoyed with it and started doing it himself because mine were 'too painful'.

He looked worried, while he had something akin to a kitchen knife; I had the sword and stole from the bandit; It was not enough for him, it was enough for me.

During the foggy night, the streets were quiet and still regardless of the world. My mother used to say only under the moon do devils lurk. Hidden by day thriving by night.

This was the perfect moment to go on a hunt. Not too long after we left, I saw the prey.

A group of guys with sheathed swords, each holding a girl of their own and with bottles in their hands as if having come from a party. Murasaki got scared right away, but I indicated for him to hush and stick to the dark corners.

Those drunk men pulled those reluctant but compliant girls in kimonos, barefoot; they wandered... hopefully towards their hideout.

"I can't believe that bastard Gakurou didn't die there and then, dammit".

"You have said the same thing over five times already, Atsushi".

"I just can't believe it man. It would have been me ruling this district. The bastard who did that could have gone a bit lower and kicked him on the kintama".

"If he gets to know that we're drinking while he's recovering–".

"I don't give a fuck... I may take the chance that bastard is weakened to slit his throat, Hyogo".

"I will support you if you do. But then what are we going to tell Sir Ryōsuke?".

"Fuck the Shinigami too, for what I heard he hasn't even reached Shikai~ what does he care? So long as one of us is doing the 'job' he doesn't care who it is. It could be Gakurou or me".

"That's true, we could even pull out the job better than he does".

...

"What job are they talking about?–"

I frowned and indicated to Murasaki to shut the fuck up as we followed them not too far behind, making sure to stay in the shadows. All you could see around was poverty and brokenness. Even the stale souls we found crouching in the dirty corners didn't mind us.

Eventually, after a lot of walking, we reached what Murasaki said was the edge of the district, a mural that separated us from the higher district. 

Here, there was a small building that looked a bit decent compared to what I had seen so far, at the very least it didn't look like just bricks put together on mud. 

There were no windows or anything of the like—just many doors and flapping roofs. 

"This is a bit problematic".

"What should we do? we should head back for today–"

"Those guys had alcohol, where do we find alcohol?".

"Eh? You want to drink now?!"

"..."

I resisted the urge to slice his throat, rubbed my temples, and exhaled a deep breath.

"Where is the alcohol, Murasaki?".

!!!

My gaze and intentions seemed to have reached him because he paled and led me away, I had already seen where the hideout was so it didn't matter. I now had to plan the offensive. 

Preferably I'd know their numbers but that man just told me everything I needed to know. If Gakurou is the gang leader in this district, no one is stronger than him there. 

'Hehe~'

Now it is just how fast I can pull this out. 

**

**

It was all party, women and alcohol. A group of gangs that were allowed to do whatever they pleased in the Soul Society's father districts. So long... so long as they accomplished one simple yet sinful task. 

When Atsushi arrived, arms hooked with a lady, eager to have a great time, what he saw was two men sitting in the middle of the room. One was Gakurou who was all bandaged with another two men standing next to him with grim expressions.

Sitting opposite them was a cross-legged man wearing a black hakama and staring at the incoming group in disgust. 

"B-But if it is Shuuhei-sama, w-we didn't expect your visit" It was as if the drowsiness faded away, but only alertness remained. Atsushi and his group let go of the girls who were all paling as they stared at that man. They hushed away.

"This person is not going to be an issue, is he?" The man wearing Hakama asked with a disinterested voice.

"I swear it will be dealt with, that bastard just struck me in the back like a little bitch, I was caught off-guard! The moment I recover I'll go hunt him down!" Gakurou said with droplets of sweat falling off his forehead. 

"You better. Hurry up, I don't want to be here longer than necessary". 

"We got this week's batch," Gakurou said, he made an eye signal towards Atsushi who gritted his teeth and went to another room to look for 'something' like a vassal. 

He returned to the room carrying the shaking bodies of two people bound in rags, blindfolded with their mouths covered too.

The Shinigami pulled them without saying a word and prepared to leave. Just as he was about to… a subtle scent entered their nostrils.

"What is this?"

"I smell something burning".

*BANG!*

A great shock stirred the building to its roots. The scent of fire intensified and the heat increased. Screams began to shout all over the upper floors.

"What is this, Gakurou!?" The Shinigami, Shuuhei Ryōsuke hissed, he hadn't encountered this situation beforehand.

The nervous Gakurou didn't have an answer, even he was wondering what was going on as his comrades asked for help upstairs, "Atsushi! Go and see what's going on up there! What are you standing there for!?"

Irritated and without much of a choice, Atsushi stumbled along the corridors trying to head upstairs, he was followed by a group. But things developed too quickly for them to even do anything. 

The roof above their heads crumbled when the scent of burnt ash became unbearable. 

Debris, blazing flames and charring smoke collapsed on them. The shinigami flickered away, but Gakurou wasn't so lucky, his body got crushed beneath as somebody landed on top of the debris with a maniacal expression, he held the body of a young girl whom he threw to the side like she was a bag of potatoes.

"Do your thing, Murasaki".

From the main door came a boy that looked like someone had thrown a bucket of water on him. He rushed in blatantly but everything was so hectic that nobody paid attention to him as he started to carry those girls away. 

"Now..." Ryōma stepped away from the debris and onto Gakurou's head as he struggled to come off the scaling rocks, shrieking in pain as his body got burned ever so slowly. 

*PUCHI!*

"HAAAAAA!"

"I heard something interesting... you said I caught you off guard and you were going to go and hunt me or something?".

"B-Bas-tard!" Gakurou hissed, his mouth foaming at the pain not only by his charring body but also from his own cracked sword that now pierced his flesh. 

The Shinigami stared at all this with a frown, seemingly unperturbed by the display in front. For him, this was just a brawl between gangs. 

"I don't know who you are, but you should think twice before carrying on" Ryōsuke extended forward what looked like a plaque, it was his identification as a shinigami. A certification of power. 

*WHOOSH!*

As fast as lightning a knife shot, pierced the plaque, shattered it in two and impacted the walls of the building creating a massive hole. 

*RUMBLE!!*

The shinigami gasped once a wave of reiatsu crashed down on him, staring at the eyes of the one that was the hunter, even as he was prey.

"I don't give a fuck who you are. This Gakurou ended up being a disappointment, a little bitch... You have a sword, don't you? Fight me" Ryoma extended his hand forward teasingly, beaconing him to come.

'Who is this lunatic? Also, he has such a powerful reiatsu... I was not supposed to waste more time than necessary here but if I don't get rid of this threat now, it may cause trouble for the captain later'

*Tch!*

The shinigami twitched his tongue, threw away the bodies of those he came to fetch and unsheathed his Katana. 

Amidst the blazing flames, the Shinigami charged forth, his eyes settled on the evildoer. The goons all stared at the fight that was about to ensue in fright. Atsushi on his part decided that there was no way he was going to involve himself in this so even as he saw Murasaki struggling to lead those girls away, he didn't do a thing.

"I'll have to teach you a lesson... destroying a shinigami's badge is a capital crime!–".

It was all good for Ryosuke, until his twinkled and the person that had been at least ten metres away, seemingly teleported in front of him, sword ready. 

!!!

*CLAANGG!!*

*BOOOMM!!*

Ryosuke felt like he met a mountain head-on, instinctively he struck forward with his sword to protect himself. The connection of the blades sent a wave of power across his arms that nearly numbed his nerves, the tension relieved when Ryoma's sword shattered under the pressure of the Shinigami's Asuchi. 

The difference in weapon quality was abysmal, but similarly... the difference in strength was also abysmal. 

Ryosuke shot like a rocket backwards, bearing the whole brunt of the strike; blasting through the building and onto the street, crashing against another building in the middle of the night, bursting out noise that woke up more than a few... and eventually coming to a stop, feeling as if nearly every bone of his body had shattered, however... his sword was unscathed. 

Ryoma stared at his sword –the one that had been Gakurou's sword, now shattered. It hadn't been able to withstand a single strike from the Shinigami's sword.

As for his other hand... he saw it on the floor with the torrents of blood that were falling off his amputated shoulder. 

"Woah, that's one sharp sword you got there, I want it~".