“ Who does this UNGRATEFUL WORM think he is?”
Behind the fiery eyes of Captain Hageshi there was another pair of equally inflamed orbs glaring back at Hiroka Ikari. Deep in the bowels of every Shinigami’s soul rests a realm that serves as a place where Zanpakuto spirits and their wielders can converse in total isolation away from the rest of the world. The two before him were no exception and theirs was a barren place surrounded on all sides by an impenetrable cage. On the furthest side of this laid a grand throne where a mountainous empress of the Oni Namakizu was seated with an expression of disgust burnt into the creases of her bulbous face. For the entirety of the battle the great oni had not bothered to utter a single word and had been content with speculating just like the audience of the games were doing. By her count, the fourth seated boy had attempted to destroy her not once but twice now and this had begun to get on her nerves. The recollection of these events caused the arm of the chair she sat on to crumble in Namakizu’s fierce grasp after it had begun to tighten at the rate her anger grew. Ikari considered himself the embodiment of rage but in truth, this child didn’t know what
real rage was.
Crude laughter escaped an enormous mouth with pink lips and sharp teeth. Her burst of guffaws shook the land that she ruled but she did not move from her position. There was no need or anything that had summoned that effort from Namakizu. In actuality, besides anger there was only one thing that the empress felt throughout the previous ordeal. Boredom.
“ He thought he could break ME? What a joke, KEKEKEKEKEKE! ”
Below, Omoni stood as usual in the middle of the colosseum’s shifting sands with her mighty club in hand and her back to her spirit. At this point, Namakizu’s leer had moved from Ikari to the captain of the eleventh division and neither of them had to meet one another’s gaze to understand one simple truth about their fight against her fourth seated member.
“ He and his little princess, never stood a chance! ”
The cackling intensified as Namakizu had been driven to hysterics. With a disappointed look plastered on Hageshi’s face, she glanced back at her roaring spirit but grew annoyed enough to look away once more. None of this sat well with Omoni. It felt like a hollow victory, as if it had been handed to her instead of her truly earning it. It was sour to the taste, dry like drinking water but gaining a mouthful of sand in its stead. Namakizu gloated while Omoni sulked.
" KEKEKEKEKEKEKE! IT’S A GOOD THING HE RAN AWAY! KEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKE "
Namakizu exploding into rubble and crippling his superior must have been the deluded imaginings of Ikari brought on by exhaustion. This was the only explanation for that sort of vital misconception. For in that moment when he sought to detonate yet another of his ultimate techniques, it became a battle of reiatsu. Physically, Omoni was very slow but when it came to the control over her reiatsu she was an undisputed
master capable of reacting long before her adversaries. When he and Hageshi’s spiritual power were set upon one another head to head it should be no surprise that her’s would triumph over his. Although Ikari's Reiryoku supply was vast there was something that could never be denied. Him having called upon his shikai’s explosive power repeatedly throughout the mass of the competition, fired off his highest caliber star multiple times each less powerful than the next due to depletion and had gone as far as removing his seal intended to suppress his true strength were the reckoning that ensured Omoni’s potent ever-growing reiatsu had overpowered his own and negated his final blast completely.
In the course of time, her pool of Reiryoku had been utilized but compared to his having been spouted about wildly with no attempt at conservation in order to ensure the total demise of his opponents, he would be lacking. He claimed to be so masterful over his own spiritual power then why was it that he had allowed his anger to force him to carelessly use so much of it? Even though her rage burned hotter than any fire and her furious elation knew no bounds, her enemies must not overlook that Omoni Hageshi was
always in complete control over herself and her reiatsu. You see, like him, she had undergone the excruciating examinations of the captain’s test but where she had succeeded he had failed. The result that came of trying to overwhelm the weapon belonging to the Alpha of the eleventh division should have been expected.
Thus far, Namakizu had grown some sizes and thrashed about like an unhinged beast and his captain had been tantalized enough to release her Bankai but in it’s suit of armor she had been
given her ability to attack and had relied on her exceptional capability to maintain the tempered expulsion of her reiatsu alongside Yugure and Ikari’s absorbed damage in what was her encompassing globe of destruction that had laid waste to the battlefield before them and had shaken her opponents resolve to the point that they had decided they no longer wished to continue to face her. All the while, neither Yugure or Hikari had managed to deal more than a speck of damage to her and in reality…she had barely broken a sweat. It went without saying that his attempt at a hit and run was unsuccessful.
In short, to destroy something like an opposing Zanpakuto it would require that the Zanpakuto in question was fragile or the reiatsu of the attacker to briefly eclipse their opponent's. The club, like it's partner, was the most durable of the leaders of the Gotei thirteen's Zanpakuto and so neither of those requirements were available to be exploited. So, completely unfettered by the fourth seat's daydream, Omoni remained where she was by Yasu’s side. In the end, even if Namakizu chastized him, Hiroka's superior was glad to have been able to see what had he had to offer but in relation to his overall performance as well as his surrender Omoni wondered if he really belonged in the eleventh division after all.
"Come on, you two. Time for post-game interviews."
As for the other captain on the field, Namakizu had thoroughly enjoyed discovering the demonic side of Yasu Yugure. Not only had their exchange been exhilarating, but it had also been a delicious display indicative of the fact that the hollow lurking behind the ninth's captain determined the empress and her wielder to be threats severe enough to warrant it's intervention. Namakizu had won this day but she still looked forward to another clash with Yugure and her swamp down the line.
The first winner of the beginning round of the Kenpachi games had been decided and it was none other than Captain of the eleventh division, Omoni Hageshi! The crowds roared in unison at the sight of Omoni's large scarred hand being flung into the sky. Sounds of glee and frustration alike wafted in and out amongst the audience during the celebratory ruckus. Taking monetary bets had been the best thing that a good portion of the spectators present had done as it appeared Omoni had been a fan favorite and had just won them large sums of currency but at the same time, others had lost a fortune. The experiences together generated a bittersweet atmosphere. Listening to their jeers and cheers, Omoni had yet to register what had happened besides the fact that her two adversaries had given up and how disgruntled she was because of that. She should have been happy to secure such a conquest but as it had been since the beginning of the struggle, Omoni never cared about winning anything. Through and through, at the end of the day all Hageshi wanted to do was keep fighting. Why'd it have to end there? Why couldn't they just keep going forever?...
“Oi, aint’chu forgettin’ something?”
Startled out of her absentminded thoughts, Omoni looked up to the snearing Namakizu who stared at her in return. A single grey talon lifted and pointed in the direction of Yasu who didn’t look at all bothered by the cacophony of charred injuries littering her entire body.
“ She’s pretty ugly with all those marks.”
Naturally, It still took Omoni a good couple of minutes before it all came to her at once. There were still wounds she had to mend that were left in the confines of Namakizu and the oni was getting tired of holding onto them for her. Trudging after Yugure, Yasu would find the remainder of her injuries healed to perfection as if she had not suffered them at all in the first place.
“ Su, wait up! Forgot to heal yer' burns! ”
Every step closer to the North Gate the volume of the screaming admirers increased. Omoni arrived in record time thanks only to Yasu's guidance for if she had been left to her own devices she may never had made it back at all. All in all, Captain Hageshi was not familiar with galleries of people exclaiming their ovations for her performance. Frankly, all of the attention made her uncomfortable as if a hoard of flies were constantly buzzing about next to her ear and she had no way of making them go away. In the past, there were none with the guts to seek that woman out. Avoiding her became of the utmost importance to most Shinigami in her immediate area and in general. With a grumpy disposition and a heavy reiatsu it was incredibly hard to interract properly with the matron and there were only a select few that would have been able to consider themselves 'close' to her enough to do so. Her circle was small and that was the way that she liked it.
Searching for a place where she could escape all of the hubub and decompress, It donned on Hageshi that she needed to do the whatever talking thing like she'd done before the games had commenced. Seeing this as an opportunity to steal away, Omoni briefly glanced around to get a better look at the thousands of faces watching her every move before strolling off hastily toward one of the waiting shelters. It was luck that this was tent one as without Yugure's help she very well could have ended up in another one entirely. There she sat alone finally able to rest although the attending ninth workers wanted to attempt to apply a towel for her sweat or even offer her a beverage they decided against it. Soon enough, Yasu burst into view and took a seat across from Omoni which instantly summoned a wide grin to the ogress's face. In the minutes they had been separated, Hageshi had overlooked that she was there to record her input on the results of their battle and instead, thought that Yugure was there for another jousting so she was disenchanted when she was forced to remember that wasn't what she was there for.
“Congratulations on your advancement. Have you learned anything while fighting those that you’ve just faced?”
Yasu's questions started right away with a pleasant tone and no sign of any resentment. Omoni took this to mean that captain Yugure had fully accepted the outcome of their confrontation and things were back to normal and this soothed the bristling monster leering at her. Looking back on everything and how it happened, she wondered if she had learned anything at all that she wasn't already aware of. Those in the stands watched the screens with baited breath for the answers their idol would give.
" Huh..I spose' I learned you got a crazy hollow inside a' ya! It was a ton a' fun ta' fight it and I wanna do it again! One on one you n' me! Can't get enough of it Su, we gotta fight every day now!"
Swiftly, Omoni slammed her fist into an open palm creating a small fluctuation of spiritual energy causing the flaps of the tent to ripple. However, she settled back against her seat and continued. All of the while, Omoni hadn't thought for a second how she might answer the questions of the closing interviews because they weren't a matter of importance to her to the point she had forgotten they'd be evaluated altogether.
" Also learned that I got a long way ta' go as a Captain. Never knew what it meant to be one n' I still don't now but when I fought Ikari I realized that it's gonna be important to spend more time with the members a' my division n' ta' get ta' know 'em better so when the time comes there ain't mistrust. I like ta' be alone so much I fergot' there's other people around me."
Confusion would come to those who did not truly know that woman and surprise to those who did. Having much more to say besides the occasional grunt here and there was unheard of when it came to Omoni and her sudden but rare bursts of clarity were never something anyone expected.
“The title of Kenpachi is truly a vicious one. If you were to win the Games, what kind of response do you imagine the viewers to have?”
The inquiries continued and at this moment Omoni became distracted by a new tear at the end of her right sleeve of her Haori. Once the question ceased she answered quickly without hesitation.
This was something that Hageshi had pined over incessantly since she came to understand the meaning of the title that she was fighting to attain. At first, it was about being given the chance to be able to duel with the best of the best the Seireitei had to offer but once she recognized that the prize would give her exactly what she had always wanted it became something she was ready to fight to the end for.
" Way I figure, if I get it then I'll never run outta' opponents! People r' gonna come find me just so they can try ta' beat me! That's better than goin' out ta' hunt for 'em myself."
Do you have any words towards your opponents for the final round?”
It is then that Omoni turned her cerulean glare to face the camera lenses aimed back at her. Although the crowds outside began to swell with more of their cheering and thought this was a moment Hageshi was giving to her fans, they were wrong. The captain of the eleventh division was looking into the eyes and souls of those that would come face to face with her in the competition to come. Her next regards were solely for them and them alone.
" Don't hold back. "
Whether this was an encouragement or a threat was unclear. Did she mean to excite them to make the battle better for herself by proxy or was she warning them that if they came at her with anything less than her best that she would leave them beneath her in the dirt below their feet. Her answer caused the already quieting crowd to still completely before music started up in hopes of easing the tensions born from her three words. This gave her the opportunity to rise from her chair and wander away.
