The Universal Villain

"Ugh..." As Renji g.r.o.a.n.e.d, the area around him was annihilated with broken trees and scattered leaves littering the ripped up ground. 'What the hell I survived that?' When Renji opened his eyes, his gaze froze when he saw two figures standing in front of him. "What?" Those two figures were the two halves of Zabimaru.

They were covered in bruises as they both protected Renji during Shen's attack. Breathing haggardly, the Snake half of Zabimaru spoke mustering a smirk as she turned her head and looked at Renji. "You really are stupid. You know that. If we weren't busy protecting you, then we could..." Cutting his own words shot, both halves of Zabimaru began to wobble.

As their eyes began to close, they collapsed to the ground with a thud. Connected to them, Renji felt a sharp pain go through his entire body as he fell back to the ground. Meanwhile, Shen put away the 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva as he descended back to the ground. "Even during that, they refused to use there Bankai."

Shaking his head Shen turned his attention to Renji, who was screaming on the ground. "And in the end, it ended up hurting the person they were trying to protect." Even without checking his notifications, Shen knew the two spirits were alive, or their world would have been destroyed already.

'Other than having a physical form Shikai Zanpakuto have a custom environment depending on what kind of spirit they are. I wonder if the environment changes depending on there level.' Thinking to himself, Shen made sure he made mental notes of everything he found interesting since arriving.

Looking into the distance, Shen thought to himself. 'I can sense Rukia is not in the cave anymore, so I have to assume they are nearby. I would stay a bit longer to see if there is anything else interesting in this world, but even if Rukia does keep us hidden, it's only a matter of time before they find us.'

Thinking back, Shen remembered the first time he destroyed a Zanpakuto Spirit. Back then, Shen didn't know what would happen when he destroyed it, and when he went to check his notification for the XP gain, he realized something was different. A notification he had never gotten before ever since he obtained the System.

[System Task Activated]

When he first obtained the System, he checked for things like a quest to see if the System wanted him to do something specific, but it didn't seem like that function existed. Other than that, he couldn't talk to the System like it was a sentient being that could answer questions he had, but other than notifications, the System was dead silent.

But destroying that Zanpakuto Spirit activated something he had never seen before, and other than saying it was activated, he never knew what the task was or what to do with it, so he linked it to Zanpakuto Spirit he destroyed. 'I got that notification when I destroyed a Zanpakuto Spirit, but no matter how many more I destroyed, I never got it again.'

With the thought, it was linked to Zanapkuto in some way. He could only think that he would need to experiment on a higher level of Zanpakuto. Thinking of this as a Task Shen thought other than the XP, he would get from Zabiamru, and maybe the task would pop again and give more information this time. 'The system has been so mysterious all this time this may be a chance to find out more about it and its intentions.'

Turning his head back toward Renji and the two halves of the Zanpakuto spirits, he noticed that Renji was slowly standing up using one hand to support himself while the other gripped his c.h.e.s.t. "You... Must you be happy right now, huh? You defeated my Zanapakuto, and now you can kill us and walk away unscathed." Getting on one knee, Renji raised his head to look as Shen bearing the pain he felt attacking his soul.

Looking at his Zanpakuto spirits, Renji took a deep breath and tried to stand on two feet. "They risked themselves to protect me because I was too weak to protect myself. I don't know why I'm here or what's going on outside, but there is one thing I do know." Shaking, Renji managed to stand on two feet and looked Shen directly in the eyes.

"If I do nothing, your just going to kill us and move on, and if you are not stopped, then I doubt a single Soul Reaper will be left. You said you were in a hurry before I can only guess that you are on some time limit when it comes to staying here." Smirking at Shen, a red glow began to ingulf Renji. "Then how about you stick around a little longer and let's see what happens."

Holding out his hand as if he was gripping something and placing his palm on top of that hand, Renji's Reiatsu began to grow as that light red glow became denser. Watching this Shen couldn't help but compare this scene to the ones he knew way too well. 'This is the part where the hero is supposed to get a power-up and defeat the villain, right? Interesting.'

Smiling to himself, Shen watched as a blade formed of pure Reiatsu appeared in Renji's hands. "Now! Roar Zabimaru!" Sweeping his palm over the Reiatsu shaped a sword in his hand, it transformed into Renji's Shikai becoming a physical object. "What?" Looking at Renji, holding Zabimaru Shen looked back down at the Zanpakuto spirits on the ground.

'He's using Zabimaru inside of Zabimaru's inner world while Zabimaru is unconscious?' Shen ignored this apparent inception and spoke to Renji. "How many times does it take for you to understand that your Shikai alone isn't enough to defeat me. I guess I'll give you that lesson one more time."

Jumping in the air Shen raised his hand in the air forming a Ki sphere above his head the size of a boulder continued to grow as Shen spoke. "Bigger. Bigger. Bigger." Each word Shen spoke made the Ki Blast grow in size, making the size it looked like previously small.

"Perfect." Looking at down at Renji, who seemed prepared for Shen's upcoming attack, Shen pulled his arm back before throwing it forward, and after a small delay, the ball of Ki followed his commands flying downwards at Renji.

As the ball of Ki approached the ground and Renji dust began to fly away as if trying to move out of the attacks way. As it came closer to the ground, its crimson glow covered everything under it. Looking at Shen's attack, Renji hesitated for a moment before rushing forward.

"You may be right when you say I don't have enough power to defeat you, but it doesn't matter Ill protect them either way!" Standing in front of Shen's attack, Renji braced himself holding his Zanpakuto, preparing to block it. The moment the ball of Ki touched Renji's Zanpakuto, he could feel an intense pressure causing his feet to sink into the ground.

Gritting his teeth, Renji felt his knees bend as he felt himself being pushed back while his feet continued to dig into the ground, causing it to create a path as the Ball of Ki continued to put pressure down on top of him. Putting in all of his strength Renji yelled as he tried to push the ball of Ki back. "Come on!"

While Renji was trying to fend off Shen's attack a little ways behind him, the Baboon half of Zabimaru's eyes twitched as she let out a groan. Lifting herself off the ground, she looked up to see the massive crimson ball of Ki moving towards the two of them as Renji tried to hold it back. 'That idiot's gonna get himself killed after we just saved him.'

Gritting her teeth, she looked over at the snake half of Zabimaru hit him in the head. "Hey, wake up, dammit!" 'Its too much I can't even slow it down!' Renji felt as if he was facing an unstoppable object, and no matter how much e struggled, he couldn't hold on. "You don't know when to quit, do you?" Shen said, sensing Renji was still trying to stop his attack, Shen boosted his attacks power even further.

"AGH!" Renji felt launched back as he fell on his back as the Ki Blast continued forward unhindered. "I can't do it" Sitting upon the ground using his elbows, Renji could only watch as the Ki Blast grew closer to him. "I'm sorry." Lowering his head Renji was about to give up when he heard a voice.

"We save you, and you give up after being knocked down?" Walking past him from behind the Baboon, half of Zabimaru stood in front of Renji. "Ya, what are you trying to ruin our credibility." Walking from the left, the Snake half of Zabimaru stood next to Renji to his right.

Both of them were still injured as they looked at Shen's attack coming even closer. "Renji stays behind us, alright?" Speaking in a serious tone, the Baboon half of Zabimaru began to radiate with an intense amount of Reiatsu soon followed up by the Snake half of Zabimaru. "Ya, we don't want you to die from this, after all."

Looking at the two of them, the Ki Blast was almost on top of them as he heard the two of them say something as his view became obstructed by a red light "Bankai!"