"Reveal the hidden world, Shinjitsu no kagami!"
A bright blue light, started to envelop Jinriyu's Zanpakutō as it began to change shape, all while emitting a nasty spiritual pressure that would make anyone feel sick to their stomach.
Once its transformation finished, the Zanpakutō's shape hadn't changed by that much. The only thing strange about it, was its blade that had now become partially see through.
Instinctively, Shido took a defensive stance, with fear of what that Zanpakutō was now capable off.
"I'm going to assume your not kind enough to tell me the ability of that Zanpakutō?"
Shido was very cautious of that Zanpakutō. Since he wasn't aware of its ability, any move that he made could be used against him. If he attacked recklessly, then he could end up losing on the spot. In the end there was only one course of action that he could take, and that was to keep as much distance between the two as possible.
"Your smart, I'm sure you'll figure out my Zanpakutō's ability once you see it."
Shido immediately formed several Kido barriers in an attempt to stop Jinriyu from reaching him, but was surprised to see that he wasn't doing anything. Even after 5 minutes, there was no movement from him.
Shido started to get suspicious as he ran through a number of possibilities of what his Zanpakutō's ability could be.
"Hypnosis? That would explain why he hasn't made any movements yet, but then he would've ended the fight by now. His Zanpakutō must be a conditional type then, and it's dependent on the moves of its opponent. But if that's true, then at this rate no one will win. It would've been better to just fight without releasing it in the first place. His Zanpakutō's ability must be dependent on how much time has passed! He's tricking me into waiting for his ability to reach its full power!"
Realising that he had given Jinriyu too much time, he quickly dispelled his Kido barriers, and prepared to attack.
"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hadō #31: Shakkahō!"
He fired a full power Kido blast at Jinriyu, but even then the student's evil smile only grew. Shido realizing his terrible mistake tried to run away,
"His Zanpakutō!? It wasn't a timer type, but a conditional?? This bastard tricked me!"
Jinriyu raised his Zanpakutō, and its blade clashed against the red Kido spell. As the two clashed, the size of Shakkahō doubled and then was bounced back towards Shido.
It wasn't just its size that doubled, but it's speed and strength had increased too.
Inevitably Shido was hit by his own attack, and in the back no less. The force from the hit propelled him a great distance.
The explosion on the attack gave him terrible burn wounds that almost put him down for good. He was bleeding from his head, but nonetheless he was still conscious.
As he breathed heavily, Nanao thought about ending the match here, but for some reason Shunsui objected to it.
"Your Zanpakutō... it doesn't just reflect stuff normally, does it?"
"Yep! Shinjitsu no kagami, doesn't just reflect attacks, but doubles everything about it, making them twice as strong then when it originally received the hit."
Shido in his current condition, understood that he had no way to get around his Zanpakutō's ability. He was far too weakened to try Zanjutsu, and any Hadō spell in his arsenal would just be reflected.
"It's over...", Shido muttered as he felt his consciousness fade, but then he heard a familiar voice echo from the crowd.
"IT'S NOT TOO LATE SHIDO! GET UP!"
He looked over too see who it was, only to find the new village elder who took over for him after he left district 64. He used to be Shido's assistant, as well as the person who raised him after that terrible incident 8 years ago.
"Old.. man?"
He was crying, but it wasn't just him. There were several others that were crying too. All people from that village.
"That's right... even if everyone here hates me...I still need to fight for them."
Before collapsing he forced himself back on his two feet, while using his Zanpakutō's scabbard as a support. Jinriyu who noticed them, dared to say to Shido,
"Are those the remaining rabble from that incident? Or are they peasants who gathered together in that ghost town of a district?"
Weakly, Shido responded, "They aren't rabble, and they aren't peasants. They are my friends... Each and every single one of them."
Seeing the fierce determination in his eyes, Jinriyu's smile faded away into disappointment. He finally realized that he wasn't changing Shido's mind any time soon. But if he was going to lose, then he would do it on his own terms.
"Your parents would've hated to see you like this. Their sacrifice to save you got them killed. Only for you to not even chase revenge for them. Pathetic."
He undid the release of Zanpakutō, and quickly sheathed it away, all while declaring his defeat. He quickly left the arena with a bitter taste in his mouth.
Although Shido won that day, Jinriyu's last words kept lingering on in his mind. Just before he passed out, he looked at the Central 46 Shingetsu Azaemon.
Meanwhile, Kai and everyone else was cheering for Shido's victory against Jinriyu.
…
A young boy was playing in a villages forest along with his other friends. Back then, things were much simpler. It didn't matter if they didn't have enough food for all of them to not go hungry, they all had each other.
The first one to notice it was him. A Shinigami picked up one of the children by the neck, before piercing their body with a Zanpakutō. He dropped the lifeless corps to the floor, and then it suddenly began to melt away until there was nothing left.
He screamed as he desperately tried to get away from the murderer. In the corner of his eye however, he noticed there wasn't just one but two and then three. More and More of them were coming. All with the same dead expression, as if they were being controlled by a higher power.
As he made his way into the village, he screamed with tears streaming from his face,
"THEY KILLED THEM! THE SOUL REAPERS! THEY'RE COMING!"
No one believed his words, but even then he ran straight home to his mother. As he did a horde of Soul Reapers suddenly emerged from the forest, all slowly making their way into the village.
One of the nearby men came forward and asked, "Is there something wron-?"
Before he could even finish speaking, a blade slashed him across the torso, causing a stream of blood to flood out of his body. As he collapsed to the floor, his body began to melt away just like the children before him.
All the villagers tried to escape via another route, only to discover the entire village was surrounded by Shinigami, and they were all making their way towards the centre.
It was a clean and quick operation which lasted 15 minutes.
They went in, exterminated the populace, and went out.
What they didn't expect was a single loan survivor, which would live to tell the tale.
The survivor of the district 64 massacre.