Chapter 35: Out of Bloom

Captain!

Stay back!

Attacking an unfamiliar enemy all at once is a foolish way to lose the advantage of numbers.

Watch me fight and identify his ability!

Th-Then let me go first!

It's...hard to imagine you have the wisdom to expose the entirety of his ability.

Ugh... You don't know that... Okay, maybe you're right...

I will draw out his ability soon. Stay there and watch a little longer.

(This is strange... Why does it feel as if my arms and legs are freezing?)

(Are those thorns he uses in his attack covered with some kind of poison?!)

Did you notice?

You thought it might be poison, didn't you? It's not. This is something you lost a long, long time ago.

Retrace your memory. You became a captain. You became strong. You began defeating your enemies by overpowering them.

It's a sensation you've not felt in a long time, right? The name of that sensation, which is the most important thing in life, is fear.

Captain... Feeling fear?

I applaud you for enduring it.

One strike of my arrows to an ordinary Soul Reaper causes them to scream and die from unbearable fear.

All kinds of things turn into fear for those struck by my arrows.

Anything and everything is suspicious. Even the process of thinking becomes difficult.

But you are enduring it with the strength of your will alone. That is threatening.

But it is simply a threat. It is far from causing fear. The core of your heart has already been...

...consumed by your fear of me.

(Fear...? That is absurd. There is no battle without fear.)

(I've overcome it every time I survived a life-or-death situation.)

(I've never repressed fear. I've gained the strength to move forward by accepting fear and conquering it in battle.)

(Fear is...)

*Gasp*

You're standing still.

*Cough*

Fear can be overcome with experience. The stronger and more experienced you are, the harder you fall under that illusion.

Fear that has a cause is easy. It can be stopped with will or experience.

As long as there is a cause, if the root of that cause is severed, that fear-like thing can be removed.

But true fear has no cause. That's because it is not an emotion. It is instinct.

True fear has no cause, no limits. It is like countless flies crawling up your body. We cannot escape from instinct.

Raaaaaaaa!

There is nothing you can do. That's to be expected. You cannot overcome your own Bankai while in Shikai mode.

How dare you use Senbonzakura!!!

Agh...

You idiot... He was just about to perform Bankai. We could've taken it.

What?! I thought only captains had Bankai!

Go back and reread His Majesty's daten.

(Renji... Rukia...)