Renji Abarai vs. Mask De Masculine

Renji Abarai vs. Mask De Masculine is a fight taking place during the second invasion of the Quincy Blood War, focusing on the second battle between 6th Division Lieutenant Renji Abarai and Sternritter "S" Mask De Masculine.

Prelude[]

After finishing their training in the Soul King Palace, 6th Division Lieutenant Renji Abarai and 13th Division Lieutenant Rukia Kuchiki depart and fall toward the Seireitei,^[2] where Rukia tells Renji that they should decide on what they are going to do once they land because they will be in the middle of enemy territory, which will leave them at a disadvantage even with their training if they let themselves be surrounded. After pointing out that Renji's fighting style will quickly attract attention and assuring a flustered Renji that she has already accepted this, Rukia warns Renji to conceal himself after each battle to avoid letting the enemy surprise him.^[3] Shortly afterward, Renji and Rukia land in the city, with their arrival creating two bright lights.^[4]

Moments later, Sternritter "S" brutally incapacitates 9th Division Captain Kensei Muguruma and 3rd Division Captain Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi in battle. When Mask attempts to finish off Rose with a second Star Flash, the blast is deflected off Renji's Shikai, Zabimaru, into a building as the latter appears in front of Rose and introduces himself to a surprised Mask as a villain.^[5] Landing next to Renji, Rukia is told to carry Rose and Kensei to safety while Renji handles Mask alone. After looking over a clueless Mask, Rukia agrees to do so since Mask is no match for what Renji has become and carries the captains away with a shawl.^[6]

After questioning if Renji does not want to gang up on him with Rukia, Mask notes Kensei and Rose teamed up against him in a cowardly manner and villains are free to use whatever dirty tactics they would like to against him. Though Renji decides to fight in a cowardly manner because of this, Mask admits he cannot hear what Renji said because of his ruptured eardrums and calls on James, whose top half leaps over and cheers on Mask to heal his eardrums, which quickly reform. When Mask proclaims his hearing is better than ever and invites Renji to say something, an unnerved Renji simply calls him creepy, prompting Mask to claim this is unforgivable.^[7]

Battle[]

Launching himself toward Renji with Star Rocket Headbutt, the force of which pushes them both several blocks away upon collision, Mask tells Renji to die from this headbutt of justice as the dust clears, but is nonplussed to find Renji completely unharmed just before the latter slams his right elbow into Mask's back, smashing him into the ground with enough force to create a large crater and embed Mask's head in the stone. Upon pulling his head out of the ground with considerable effort, Mask admits that Renji seems to have luck on his side due to dodging the Star Rocket Headbutt and landing a strike of his own, but warns Renji that he made a mistake in angering Mask because now the star crest has appeared on his fist as a sign that he is meant to defeat evil.^[8]

Mask proceeds to attack Renji with Star Satsujin Punch, which he claims is ten times stronger than his usual punch and has become an iron hammer of justice. Despite Mask declaring that Renji should die quietly while his brains are beaten out by the fist of justice, Renji emerges unharmed and holding Mask's fist back with his own hand from the dispersing energy around the punch as he wonders if Mask cannot kill a Shinigami with a murderous punch. Momentarily bewildered by this, an infuriated Mask proclaims that it is unacceptable for a mere villain to catch a hero's fist and performs dozens of additional Star Satsujin Punches while telling Renji to die, toppling nearby buildings and creating a massive cloud of dust. Suddenly, from behind Mask, James tearfully apologizes prior to being cut into several large pieces.^[9]

With Mask shocked and confused by this, Renji reveals he took care of James while Mask was throwing his punches in order to prevent the latter from regenerating any further. Though Mask calls him a coward for this, a grinning Renji reminds Mask that villains are supposed to be cowardly and slashes Zabimaru horizontally across Mask's abdomen.^[10] As a large amount of blood spurts from the wound on his abdomen, Mask suddenly forces his wound shut and emphatically asserts a star cannot be killed by a villain before calling out to the bloody remains of James, from whom multiple clones of James emerge to cheer Mask on in a chorus of voices, causing Mask's wound to heal and his mask to change color and design while his enlarging muscles rip through most of his clothes, leaving him nearly naked. Mask declares his Star Power-Up is complete and that Renji can die now, though Renji merely wonders why it changed his mask's appearance, before remembering that he is the one Mask once defeated with his Star Dropkick during the Wandenreich's first invasion.^[11]

Claiming that he had forgotten until now because heroes do not remember every villain they vanquish, which leads Renji to realize that this means Mask did not even know who he was fighting until now, Mask admits that he does not know how Renji became this strong, only to declare that Renji should be proud to witness his true power and winds his arm back, to Renji's alarm, before unleashing a Star Lariat, which creates a wave of air pressure in the shape of his arm that cuts through a nearby building and sends Renji hurtling back at high speeds. With Renji unable to overcome the pressure on his body, Mask brags that he can take down an enemy from a mile away with this technique and his full power available, which is why others call it his One-Mile Arts.^[12]

Mask performs a rapid volley of punches that impact Renji with dozens of pressure waves which push him back even faster, preventing him from staying in place by grabbing onto a building due to the wall quickly breaking off around his hand. After proclaiming that Renji can no longer brace himself against a wall, Mask activates his Quincy: Vollständig, gaining a cape and a Heiligenschein behind his head, while promising that Renji will die and turn to dust at the hands of a divine superstar without ever touching the ground again before tracing a large star in the sky with his flight pattern as the clones of James cheer him on below.^[13]

From the star-shaped trail, Mask creates an energy star and unleashes Star Flash: Super Nova by slamming it into the ground below, creating a massive explosion that incinerates the stunned clones.^[14] As he watches this from above and bids Renji farewell, a laughing Mask assures James that their link will ensure he eventually comes back to life so long as Mask himself stays alive. However, upon seeing a large snake skull in the clearing smoke below, Mask assumes that Renji activated his Bankai just before dying, something he considers pitiful, but is bewildered when Renji's hand grabs the underside of the skull, which clamps down in the smoke and produces a long blade from between its fangs, leaving Mask to question if a Bankai is supposed to change its form like this.^[15]

Having trained with Ichibē Hyōsube to learn and earn the true name of his Bankai, which Zabimaru had concealed from him due to only partially acknowleding his strength, Renji activates his true Bankai, Sōō Zabimaru, which is comprised of the snake skull and its protruding blade on his right hand, a large ape-like left arm attached to his left shoulder, and a snake spine coiled around his waist, which Mask calls dangerous. Declaring that he cannot allow Renji to live any longer after withstanding his ultimate move and claiming that his soul is burning with the flames of true justice to defeat Renji, Mask flies down toward Renji.^[16]

Renji uses Hihiō to reach out and grab Mask with the large left arm on his shoulder, and despite Mask claiming that this is nothing and attempting to break it apart, the hand easily breaks his left arm, causing Mask to scream in pain, before throwing him into a nearby building, where Mask bursts out of the rubble and curses Renji. With Mask vowing to abandon thoughts of justice and evil in order to murder Renji for breaking the left arm of a star, Renji simply activates Orochiō, giving his blade a serrated edge, and leaps up to impale a startled Mask on his sword before twisting it and unleashing Sōō Zabimaru, Zaga Teppō, which creates a giant snake head composed of burning Reishi that bites down on Mask, reducing him to an ashen husk. In the aftermath, as Mask's body crumbles and flies away in the wind, Renji observes that he completely burned himself out and concludes that this is what Mask ultimately wanted to happen.^[17]

Aftermath[]

The next day, as dawn breaks, Renji wakes up inside a building and muses that it is time to find the next Sternritter now that he has hid long enough before looking around to make sure he is alone and departing. From behind the pillar that Renji was sleeping against, Sternritter "U" NaNaNa Najahkoop expresses disbelief at Renji having actually been asleep the whole time and recounts how he came here to find out who killed Mask, with him assuming that Renji was setting a trap upon finding him asleep and cautiously observing him through the night, only to be let aghast at Renji sleeping in the middle of enemy territory. However, a grinning NaNaNa asserts that Renji's luck has run out because he has never observed someone for this long and declares that it is over for Renji, whom he calls "red monkey".^[18]

References[]

Navigation[]

Quincy Blood War
Major Participants	Ichigo Kurosaki • Uryū Ishida • Yasutora Sado • Orihime Inoue • Kisuke Urahara • Isshin Kurosaki • Gotei 13 • Royal Guard • Visored • Tier Harribel • Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez • Wandenreich • Sternritter • Asguiaro Ebern
Events
Fights & Events	The New Shinigami Guardians & the Broken Balance • Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Asguiaro Ebern • Rise of the Wandenreich • Return to Hueco Mundo • Wandenreich vs. The Arrancar • Fall of the Seireitei • Ichigo Kurosaki & Ayon vs. Quilge Opie • Byakuya Kuchiki vs. Äs Nödt • Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto vs. Driscoll Berci • Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto vs. Royd Lloyd • Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto vs. Yhwach • Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Yhwach • The Royal Guard Arrive • Royal Training • Kenpachi Zaraki vs. Retsu Unohana • The Rise & Fall of Masaki Kurosaki • Isshin Shiba & Masaki Kurosaki vs. White • Soul Society: Battle Ready • Rise of Uryū Ishida • Wartime Coordination • Tōshirō Hitsugaya & Rangiku Matsumoto vs. Bazz-B • Suì-Fēng vs. BG9 • Tōshirō Hitsugaya vs. Cang Du • Sajin Komamura vs. Bambietta Basterbine • Kensei Muguruma & Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi vs. Mask De Masculine • Renji Abarai vs. Mask De Masculine • Rukia Kuchiki vs. Äs Nödt • Yachiru Kusajishi vs. Guenael Lee • Kenpachi Zaraki vs. Gremmy Thoumeaux • Ichigo Kurosaki vs. The Bambies • The Gotei 13 vs. The Sternritter • Battle of the Zombies • The Royal Guard vs. The Wandenreich • Ōetsu Nimaiya vs. the Schutzstaffel • Ichibē Hyōsube vs. Yhwach • Fall of the Soul King • Bazz-B vs. Jugram Haschwalth • Mayuri Kurotsuchi & Nemu Kurotsuchi vs. Pernida Parnkgjas • Shunsui Kyōraku vs. Lille Barro • The Gotei 13 & The Visored vs. Gerard Valkyrie • Nanao Ise vs. Lille Barro • Uryū Ishida vs. Jugram Haschwalth • Yoruichi Shihōin vs. Askin Nakk Le Vaar • Kisuke Urahara vs. Askin Nakk Le Vaar • Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Yhwach: Rematch • Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Yhwach: Final Fight