Chapter 30: Hatred for Men
<span style="font-weight:400">As the group settled into afortable silence, Kazuya called forth his status.
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<span style="font-weight:400">[General Information]
<span style="font-weight:400">Name — Kazuya Ishihara
<span style="font-weight:400">Gender — Male
<span style="font-weight:400">Race — Human
<span style="font-weight:400">Reiryoku Level — Great Level (Captain-ss)
<span style="font-weight:400">Alignment — Neutral Evil
<span style="font-weight:400">Affiliation — None
<span style="font-weight:400">…
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<span style="font-weight:400">Racial Abilities
<span style="font-weight:400">None
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<span style="font-weight:400">Innate Abilities
<span style="font-weight:400">[Silvery Voice]
<span style="font-weight:400">[Crumbling Heart (Human): You can walk unhindered upon any surface.]
<span style="font-weight:400">[Regeneration]
<span style="font-weight:400">[Pain Resistance]
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<span style="font-weight:400">Acquired Abilities
<span style="font-weight:400">[Seduction: The ability to seduce those of the opposite gender.
<span style="font-weight:400">Mastery level - Basic]
<span style="font-weight:400">[Riding: The ability to ride a mount.
<span style="font-weight:400">Mastery level - Intermediate]
<span style="font-weight:400">[Arithmetic: The ability to process arithmetic problems.
<span style="font-weight:400">Mastery level - Intermediate]
<span style="font-weight:400">[Provocation: The ability to anger people with your tongue.
<span style="font-weight:400">Mastery level - Basic]
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<span style="font-weight:400">His Crumbling Heart ability had changed along with his race. Instead of providing support to allies, it had transformed into a self-serving skill that was absurdly underwhelming. After all, he could easily create Reiryoku tforms to fly anywhere. What was the point of this innate ability?
<i><span style="font-weight:400">‘Can’t have all the good things. Well, Ciri won’t recover for a while. Should I train in my human form?’</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">He shook off the idea. The only potential evolution for his human race was bing a Quincy. Normal Quincy’s weapons and techniques were nothing extraordinary. Schrift — the greatest ability of the Quincy race was gatelocked by Yhwach, the Father of Quincies.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">‘Blut is the most useful. I’ll focus on my Hollow powers first. Who knows if I can unlock a form beyond Vasto Lorde?’</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">He was already so far in his Hollow evolution. He might need to train for years to achieveparable power with Human and Shinigami forms. They would merely be side questspared to the priority of his Hollow form.
<span style="font-weight:400">After all, he wasn’t confident about achieving Bankai in ten days, like Ichigo. Fighting a Captain-ss without Bankai would be tough.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">‘First priority Hollow, second Shinigami, andst Quincy.’</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">Leaving his cave, he found M Rose perched atop a mountain. She vigntly scanned the surroundings for any threats encroaching upon them. He soared above her and yfullyunched a tiny Reiryoku orb at her head.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Hello, my sweet kitten.”
<span style="font-weight:400">M Rose snarled, eliciting a chuckle from him. He zipped away, soon pursued by an irritated M Rose. Landing on the ground, he turned to face her.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Wanna train?”
<span style="font-weight:400">M Rose''s grumpy expression transformed into one of excitement. Casting aside her shirt, she took on the stance of a predator ready to pounce upon its prey. “Dordoni''s nonsense didn''t let me show my full potential. Devour… Leona! (Gold Lioness General)”
<span style="font-weight:400">Her Resurrión form was unleashed with a torrent of Reiatsu. It was just as eye catchingly feral and seductive as he remembered. She set her green eyes on him. “Kazuya, I''ming. Try not to be a t corpse."
<span style="font-weight:400">Dordoni hadn''t provided her with a proper opportunity to disy her physical prowess. Kazuya became the ideal contender for her to unleash her full force. He fortified his arms with Oppression and released his Reiryoku to augment his defenses with Reiatsu.
<span style="font-weight:400">M Rose closed the gap in a split second and swung her broadsword. “Get wrecked!”
<span style="font-weight:400">He tilted his head, narrowly evading the immense arc of her de, and drove his knee towards her belly. He forced her to face him in a range where her weapon was hard to use. She countered by swiftly raising her knee to intercept his strike, thenunched a vicious elbow towards his face. He deftly ducked beneath her assault, snaked an arm between her legs, and hoisted her onto his shoulder with surprising agility.
<span style="font-weight:400">M Rose writhed on his shoulders, pounding the hilt of her weapon into his ribs and battering him with her knees. “W-What the heck are you nning?”
<span style="font-weight:400">Grimacing through the pain, he found a firm grip on the back of her neck and flung her skyward. She mmed into the ground, sending plumes of white sand exploding in every direction.
<span style="font-weight:400">She was buried a couple of inches under the Hueco Mundo.
<span style="font-weight:400">"You bastard!" She leaped out, fuming with rage at being tossed about like a sack of potatoes. "Y-You''re despicable. How can you treat a woman like that?"
<span style="font-weight:400">“Everything is fair in love and war. I approach every battle as if it''s war, and I also love you. So everything I do here is fair.”
<span style="font-weight:400">M Rose stared at him, stupefied. “You love me? When the hell did that happen?”
<span style="font-weight:400">Aside from their kiss and some moments, their rtionship bordered on the verge of acquaintance and friend, leaning into thetter after their kiss. Suddenly hearing him confess his love shook her mind.
<span style="font-weight:400">He lunged at her with his fist. She blocked his punch with her broadsword and pushed him back.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Focus on training first. Don’t get distracted.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Don’t ignore my question, dammit. What the hell did I do to earn your love?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I don’t know. You being sexy might have something to do with it.”
<span style="font-weight:400">"So you''re just after my body." M Rose’s face turned dark as though she hated the thought of being lusted after for her body alone. Golden Reiatsu crackled around her as a tidal wave of murderous intent bore down on Kazuya. "All men are the same. I thought you were different. In the end, you''re like everyone else."
<span style="font-weight:400">He was certainly wrong about curing her hatred for men in one conversation. It would take time to cure her prejudice.
<span style="font-weight:400">Before he could ease the misunderstanding, M Rose charged at him with the ferocity of a lioness, shing at his chest. Her attacks were lethal, aimed to kill. He enveloped his hand in Reiatsu and caught her Zanpakutō with his bare hands. Her Reiatsu sliced through his skin like a hot knife through butter, but her de failed to prate his flesh.
<span style="font-weight:400">The sight of his blood poured cold water on her impulsive fury. She retracted her Zanpakutō, her gaze fixed on his rapidly healing wound.
<span style="font-weight:400">While she regretted injuring Kazuya, he was of a different mind. <i><span style="font-weight:400">‘Will my Hollow Mask regenerate if it’s broken?’</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">He decided to test the theoryter. “Rose, I didn’t mean it that way. Don’t try to murder your man over a misunderstanding, dude.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“What else did you mean by those words?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Youpletely ignored the ‘might’ part… Your body is just one part of my love equation. I am still trying to figure out the other part.”
<span style="font-weight:400">He hadn’tpletely fallen for her but he absolutely adored her.
<span style="font-weight:400">M Rose sighed, her shoulders sagging. She raked a hand through her hair, hoping her impulsive words hadn''t wounded him. “Something went off in my head when you said that… I’m sorry.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“You hurt me. It was emotional damage…”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Is that so?” She let her Zanpakutō fall to the ground and encircled his waist with her arms, seemingly attempting to crush him in her embrace. “Forgive me or I’ll crush you with my bear huuuug.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“O-Oi, stop. It’s starting to hurt.”
<span style="font-weight:400">He hadn’t strengthened his waist with Oppression, focusing on his limbs to increase his explosiveness. M Rose’s hug genuinely squeezed the life out of him.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Just say the damn words.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Okay! I forgive you! Stop it now!”
<span style="font-weight:400">M Roseughed and tightened her grip before hoisting him off the ground and twirling him around. She set him down after a dozen dizzying spins andid a hand on his shoulder.
<span style="font-weight:400">“You brute…”
<span style="font-weight:400">She continuedughing. “Oh my god… Kazuya, I don’t hate whatever we have right now. Let’s, you know, defeat Baraggan first then sort the rest of this stuff… I want to focus on training and bing stronger.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I see.”
<span style="font-weight:400">She stepped back and ced her hands on her hips, drawing eyes to her abs. “What am I saying is—”
<span style="font-weight:400">“That you love me and you can’t live without me, but Baraggan is a bitch who won’t let you sleep peacefully. So, we got to take care of him first.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“You got nothing!”
<span style="font-weight:400">Kazuya chuckled before dodging a broadsword strike. They continued training with an intense, pulse-pounding battle. He found it increasingly difficult to counter her devastating blows. She exhibited far greater brute strength and agility than in her sh with Dordoni. Had she grown stronger within hours, or had she been holding back during her previous battle? It had to be the former, since she was still adapting to her new Arrancar form.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">‘Was she this strong in the story? I don’t believe it.’</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">M Rose had a st swinging her sword all over the ce. She fought him to her heart’s content until her Reiryoku couldn’t support her release form.