CH 102: LIMITLESS NEUTRAL PHASE: INFINITY
The atmosphere was filled with a progressively heavier tension as the two sides faced each other.
“You are much better than I thought.”
Yoruichi sincerely complimented while Soi Fon nodded on the side.
Gojo was still inferior to them when it came to Hakuda and Hoho. But the two of them were professionally trained for decades in an institution that entirely reposed on those two disciplines. Meanwhile, Gojo had been in the Gotei 13 and should have just fumbled around by himself.
His results could only be said to be awe-inspiring and not even Soi Fon could deny the talent of the man.
"Heh, it's alright."
Gojo simply shrugged. He wasn't arrogant enough to think that he could surpass specialists in hand-to-hand combat with hundreds of years of experience. Furthermore, he had to admit that his fighting skills when he was alive were extremely inferior when compared to them. Thankfully, he had received quite the brutal training from Unohana.
‘Though, I am still a little short.’
While he looked relaxed, he had to admit that fighting against both Soi Fon and Yoruichi was not an easy task, not that he expected it to be easy in the first place.
Speed aside, the two had a wealth of experience and a great tacit understanding of each other. Their combination and coordination made Gojo waste more mental energy than what should have been necessary.
Neither Soi Fon nor Yoruichi missed the little moment where he became absent-minded. Their forms blurred as they appeared close to him.
Boom!
<<Black flash: Blut Vene[1]>>
"Haha."
Gojo let out a bitter chuckle as he blocked a dropkick from Yoruichi with his right arm, and his left leg to stop an attack from Soi Fon.
Under his kimono, his arms were covered in faint blue patterns tracing the veins beneath his skin.
To Gojo, Blut Vene was one of the best defensive skill in his current skill set.
Despite this, he could feel his bones crack a little under the power of those two attacks. He immediately retracted, and with a twirl, kicked the two of them.
Sadly, the attack missed as they had already prepared for his counterattack and dodged them. After all, while he could react and protect himself thanks to his eyes, he was still slower than them.
Like this, a back and forth exchange consisting mainly of martial arts began once again.
If previously it was mainly a contest of speed, now it is one of pure combat skills.
Compared to the flashy fight most shinigami were used to, this felt terribly mundane, but it was oh so much more straining.
Each step and each attack had to be calculated while anticipating his opponent's next move.
When paired with his constant use of the Rokugan, the strain on his mind was not a joke. But even so, Gojo found the fight fun.
It reminded him of his training with Unohana.
The three of them were entangled in a bitter fight where even the slightest mistake could be fatal.
For Gojo, the situation was quite tricky, but not unbearable. Slowly, wounds were accumulating on his body, but it wasn't enough to slow him down.
Meanwhile, the two others weren't having it easy either. It was surprisingly frustrating for Soi Fon as her stamina was draining at an accelerated rate.
After all, more than Hakuda itself, her fighting style was reliant on her zanpakuto ability so she specialized in quick fights. It didn't help that she just recuperated her energy not long ago after four months of being drained.
Free of wounds she might be, but she could feel herself slowly slipping, and eventually, she knew that she would make a mistake.
Giving a glance at Yoruichi, she jumped back and put distance between herself and Gojo, leaving Yoruichi to deal with him.
Once she made sure that Yoruichi had no problem holding on, she took a deep breath and slowly began to accumulate the winds around her arms.
During those six days, she had learned from Yoruichi that Shunko was a technique Yoruichi herself created.
Soi Fon was a little sad to see that her achievements weren't all that impressive, but she was happier to reaffirm how powerful her princess was.
'I need to do it like this.'
As the original creator of the skill, Yoruichi's understanding of Shunko was far ahead of that of Soi Fon. Although the elements they used were different, the core principles were the same.
"Gather."
The wind whipped around her, flapping her clothes and showing a spring scene to anyone who could pass in the surroundings but it didn't matter to her.
*Huffff*
Slowly releasing her breath, she clenched her fists. She rushed toward Gojo, breaking multiple sonic barriers in the process, and punched with all her strength, releasing all the energy encased in her fist.
Yoruichi meanwhile, who had been holding back Gojo, immediately used him as a springboard and jumped out of the way.
BOOM!!!!!
An explosion of light filled the place while a huge tornado nearly pushed Yoruichi away. Even from afar, Yoruichi had to admit that this attack packed quite the punch. If Soi Fon managed to perfect it, it would become a big killer.
"Even if he wasn't taken down by this, I doubt he should be well."
Just as she murmured this-
"Do you think so?"
-She felt a presence behind her. But, as if she was prepared all around, she executed a dazzling series of actions.
<<Shunko: Full power>>
She released the full power of the basic Shunko. If before she was simply surrounded by lightning sparks, now the lightning around Yoruichi changed and took the form of two large white wings on her back.
Be it speed, strength, or reaction time, all of them were increased exponentially in this state.
This was followed by her gathering all that lightning in her fist and releasing it in a fraction of an instant with a mighty punch. Compared to what Soi Fon did, the two could not even be compared.
Like a divine punishment, the sea of lightning swallowed Gojo, leaving him no time to react.
The reason why she wasn't surprised about him appearing behind her and could react so fast was that she already knew that he could teleport since he used it in dangai once after awakening.
Since Soi Fon knew and told her how powerful his healing skills were, she did not hold back at all in this attack.
It was impossible for him to still be able to fight after receiving such an attack. After all, it was powerful enough to completely take down someone at the captain level.
"You lost."
She felt a little giddy at first, but as the lightning slowly vanished, she could only open her mouth wide.
"Really?"
She wasn’t the only one. Be it Soi Fon or Nemu, none of them could hide the astonishment and confusion at the sight they were witnessing.
When everything cleared out, all of them could see Yoruichi, her hand-stretched and her fingers closed in a fist. Her fist was just a few centimeters away from Gojo's face, but no matter what she did, no matter how she tried to come close---it could not advance.
Giving her a smirk, he added, "You cannot touch me. After all, the distance between me and you is — Infinite!"
<<Limitless Neutral phase: Infinity>>
[1]: Calm blood dress
(AN: I must say. Writing this fight was hard. Normally bleach is all about who can make the bigger explosion. Less technique than pure Hakuda. I wanted to use other big move of Soi Fon and Yoruichi. But Soi Fon only learned the new Shunko after being trashed by Yoruichi in Canon and Yoruichi did not show the third form of Shunko before the war.)