By the ti anyone considered going after him, Kijishi was already too far gone.
The Squad 11 mbers exchanged glances with each other for a mont, then scrambled off in the sa direction as their captain.
Matsushita Yusuke stood where he was. He looked at his right hand for a while, then let out a quiet breath.
"Good thing..."
Soifon had no idea what he ant.
"Good thing what?"
"Good thing he ran fast enough. He couldn't tell how much I had left."
The words left him.
Then Matsushita Yusuke's eyes rolled back, and he went down without a sound.
Shingonkai's void loan did not co free.
The repaynt extracted itself afterward. Everything that had been borrowed during the fight now ca due at once, and the accumulated cost of the arm reconstruction, the consecutive high-level Kido deploynts, and the sustained output of the entire exchange settled onto him simultaneously. The more efficiently the loan had been used, the harder the repaynt hit.
But as a result, this ti? Matsushita Yusuke had gotten everything he ca for.
Sothing to put to use next ti.
...
When he opened his eyes again, the first thing he saw was a familiar ceiling.
He rubbed his head, sat up, and found himself back in his Academy dormitory room.
"...?"
The feeling was strange in a specific way. Like a sequence break that had skipped him directly back to the last save point. Which was obviously not what had happened, since his mory was completely intact, every detail of what had occurred sitting right where he had left it.
He had fought Kijishi Kenpachi.
No definitive finish, technically. But Kijishi had run. By any reasonable definition, that was a win.
He had won.
But what ca next?
The light coming through the window had a low orange quality to it. Late afternoon, roughly. He had been out for a while.
How long? What had happened outside? What was the current situation?
He had questions, which got him out of bed.
Then his feet hit the floor and sothing moved behind his eyes, a churning pressure at both temples that made the entire room tilt in four directions at once.
The body was not fully recovered yet.
He pressed both thumbs against his temples and stood there for a mont.
Students should not be taking out loans. Slow and steady, every ti.
While he waited for his head to settle, he started working through the other outstanding question.
Set aside current events for now. Take stock of the haul first.
He looked at his panel.
The expression that ford on his face moved from mild surprise to sothing that was genuinely pleased.
Two separate quest reward notifications.
Why two?
The fight should have only generated one quest. Where had the second one co from?
He looked at the first one.
[Quest complete... Reward acquired]
[Rewards: Reiatsu Level 10, all four base disciplines 3, Zanpakuto Physical 5]
The overall panel had shifted considerably, but the most significant change was in the Zanpakuto numbers. Between the private training under Aizen and this second round of boosts, the Zanpakuto ability panel had moved to a new configuration.
[Zanpakuto Ability Panel]
[Physical: 41]
[Elental: 22]
[Kido: 52]
[Biological: 26]
[Rule: 19]
Five points added, and Kido still leading the field by a distance.
Which made sense. Shingonkai had operated at a level beyond what the numbers alone suggested during this fight.
Though Kijishi being on the lower end of what a captain could be had sothing to do with the outco too. Beating soone at that level was genuinely difficult regardless.
He moved to the second notification.
It was not sothing he had expected.
[You engaged a currently serving Gotei 13 captain in direct combat and achieved a literal victory.]
[Achievent reward acquired: Fundantals Mastered]
[Fundantals Mastered: All four base disciplines have risen significantly. Any discipline currently below the base value of 40 will be raised to 40 imdiately upon receipt of this achievent.]
[Note: You have reached the threshold of what it ans to be a genuinely strong person. Use this mont as an opening to look toward higher levels and greater power. Don't keep your attention fixed on the fine details. Use your imagination.]
An achievent.
He had gotten one before, actually. Back when he had attended every single one of Aizen's calligraphy sessions for a full year running. Apparently clearing a fight against a sitting captain qualified for the sa category.
The boost itself was a little blunt in how it worked.
Forced straight to 40? The phrasing was accurate enough, it felt like being grabbed and yanked upward. Was the System under the impression he should already be going after a captain's seat?
He checked the panel while the thought ran its course.
[Reiatsu Level: 8] (Current cap: 40)
[Zanjutsu: 40] [Hakuda: 40] [Hoho: 40] [Kido: 55] (Cap per discipline: 100)
[Overall Assessnt: Bottom-Rank Captain Level]
Everything except Kido had, if he was being honest, been dragged up rather than grown to that point.
Understandable. From the mont he had started to where he was now was barely over a year. With that kind of tifra, the ceiling on what was achievable through genuine developnt was naturally limited.
He adjusted the panel view and checked the Hollow side.
[Hollow Power Level: 9]
[Sonido: 3] [Cero: 6] [Hierro: 4]
The growth on this side was slower, but the numbers fed into the main panel, and the combined effect on overall combat capability was visible. Without the Hollow panel's contribution, he probably would not have made it to the end of the fight.
Putting it all together, the "Bottom-Rank Captain Level" assessnt was roughly accurate.
No Bankai yet. But between the reiatsu, the void loan chanic, and the Kido side's output, the combat capability was real.
Two separate rewards. Two different kinds of gain.
But wait.
Matsushita Yusuke paused.
Achievents represented a staged kind of recognition. A summary of reaching a specific threshold.
Which ant, if that logic extended forward:
Participating in the major events of the story's main tiline would generate more achievents.
That had real potential.
The nearest major historical event from where he stood right now: the Hollowfication incident. The night Aizen pushed Hirako Shinji and the others out of Soul Society.
The thought had barely finished forming when there was a knock at the door.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Matsushita-kun. Are you awake?"
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