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Zaraki Kenpachi's haori had long since been reduced to blood-soaked tatters. His body was covered in countless slashes, and while his wounds still oozed blood, his Reiatsu had temporarily halted the worst of the bleeding. More noticeably, his eyepatch had been removed, and the bells tied in his hair were gone.

These were no trivial details. Both the eyepatch and bells served as self-imposed limiters. With them gone, a portion of his spiritual suppression had been lifted.

Shiraha exhaled slowly, a faint smile playing at the edge of his lips. "That's just what makes Captain Zaraki so terrifying."

Facing someone like Zaraki Kenpachi wasn't something he could take lightly. Were it not for the fact that his system's check-in task was now nearing completion—his template almost fully advanced—Shiraha would've chosen to maintain a hit-and-run strategy, keeping distance while chipping away at Zaraki's endurance.

That tactic couldn't land any killing blows, but it had the benefit of keeping Zaraki from closing the distance.

Unfortunately, that strategy had now reached its limit.

With the eyepatch gone and a portion of his Reiatsu unleashed, even Shiraha's thirtyfold gravity had diminished in effect. He could push it further—to fortyfold or beyond—but if he did, Zaraki would likely release even more of his sealed spiritual power.

Unless Shiraha had a sure-kill strike prepared, fully unleashing his strength could backfire.

"If you won't come to me," Zaraki bellowed, laughing wildly, "then I'll come to you myself! Kuchiki Shiraha—learn to love the joy of battle!"

With a thunderous boom, Kenpachi slammed his foot into the earth. The ground cracked violently, then exploded outward as he launched forward. His movements were slower than they could have been—thirty times gravity still tugged at his body—but it wasn't enough to stop him.

In the blink of an eye, he was upon Shiraha, Zanpakutō raised and swinging with reckless speed, each strike driven by murderous joy.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Shiraha met every blow head-on, his staff blade wrapped in dense Armament Haki. Sparks flew with each impact, their weapons shrieking as metal clashed against metal.

Zaraki laughed madly, slashing again and again with wild abandon. "Yes! That's it! Kuchiki Shiraha! That's the thrill I'm after!"

Shiraha responded with silence, his expression focused but calm. He parried each strike cleanly, then vanished with a blur of Shunpo, trying to create distance.

But every time he reappeared, Zaraki was already there, his relentless pursuit continuing like a hunter closing in on wounded prey.

The practice field became a battleground of afterimages and sonic detonations. Blasts of spiritual pressure shattered the terrain. Deep ravines split the ground from the sheer force of their blows. The entire field rumbled as if caught in a constant earthquake.

Reiatsu surged and collided in chaotic bursts. Everything within the blast radius was obliterated, reduced to spirit particles. Even Gin and Sasakibe, stationed nearby, had to raise their Reiatsu to shield themselves from the devastating aftershocks.

Despite the chaos, Shiraha's Observation Haki allowed him to read Kenpachi's every move. His counterattacks, swift and precise, forced even Zaraki to block. Though most strikes were deflected, several slipped through.

By now, Zaraki Kenpachi's body bore hundreds of new cuts—thin but deep, each one bleeding freely. Yet every time blood flowed, his spiritual pressure surged, halting the worst of the bleeding through sheer force of will.

In mere minutes, the two had exchanged thousands of blows.

In raw power, Zaraki still held the advantage. But Shiraha's perfect-level Armament Haki augmented both his physical defense and offensive capability, making him a match in close quarters. His blade, also reinforced with Haki, could bypass the outer veil of Zaraki's Reiatsu and land true hits.

Suddenly, the system's prompt echoed in Shiraha's mind:

Task complete. Reward granted: Fujitora's Template Progress +10%

Current Progress: 80%

Abilities Unlocked:

— Observation Haki: Perfect Level

— Armament Haki: Perfect Level

— Swordsmanship: Master Level

— Exclusive Abilities:

—— Advanced Gravity Fruit Control (Manipulate gravity up to 45x within a 100,000-meter range. Can imbue gravity into weapons.)

—— Weightlessness Control

—— Gravity Blade: Tiger Slash

—— Gravity Suppression

—— Gravity Light

—— Hell Brigade

A sudden surge ran through Shiraha's body as the template integrated. His muscle control sharpened. His movements felt crisper, more defined. His grip on the battlefield's momentum solidified.

His Armament Haki had been significantly enhanced—now a perfect form that came with its own toll. It consumed more spiritual and physical energy with every strike. The burden was heavier, but so too was the power.

The gravity limit had increased from forty to forty-five times, though its effective range remained unchanged—likely either a limitation of his current perception range or the fruit's incomplete mastery.

Still, the transformation was unmistakable.

"My power now... it's on par with a full-fledged captain," Shiraha murmured. "And with gravity manipulation, even some captains might fall short."

Before, with his progress at seventy percent, he hovered between vice-captain and captain level. But now? He had crossed that threshold.

With a burst of Shunpo, he reappeared several hundred meters away, his body rippling with Reiatsu. Zaraki was already preparing to charge again, but Shiraha raised a hand to halt him.

"Captain Zaraki, continuing this back-and-forth will drain us both. Let's end this in a single strike."

Kenpachi paused, then grinned. "Finally! I've been waiting for that!"

He dug his heel into the cracked ground, golden Reiatsu bursting forth like wildfire. His blade trembled in his hand as he poured all his spiritual energy into it, preparing to finish the fight.

Shiraha raised his staff blade, which was now covered in perfect Armament Haki. Then he added something more—forty-five times gravity, compressed and focused into the edge of the blade.

As Kenpachi charged, Shiraha did the same.

"Forty-five times gravity," Shiraha whispered.

The earth cratered beneath his feet as he launched forward. Both combatants moved as blurs, the distance between them closing in less than a heartbeat.

Blades raised. Haki met Reiatsu.

Their final clash was imminent.

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