"Flip… Flap!"
A series of explosive sounds rang out through the air.
At the same time, a grinding, teeth-gnashing noise echoed, sending chills down the spine. Ulquiorra released his claw. Looking at the empty space within it, he slowly raised his hand and aimed forward.
"Pop!"
A black beam of light burst forth and shot straight ahead. Though it was pitch black, it shone with a blinding brilliance, forcing one to squint.
Qin Yi, who had just broken free from Ulquiorra's grip, now had five cracks appear across his mask, with fresh red blood seeping through.
"So strong!"
His trembling, excited voice sounded eerie and sharp.
The black Cero reached him in an instant. Holding his blade with one hand, Qin Yi slashed out fiercely with the King of Hell.
"Buzz!"
The void trembled again. Explosions erupted beneath his feet, and the violent shockwave blasted Qin Yi away, sending him crashing headfirst into the desert, rolling repeatedly.
"Ulquiorra is too strong!!"
"Boss's strength still isn't enough; he can't fight Ulquiorra head-on right now!"
"Who would've thought that cold, emotionless guy would possess such power!"
The Arrancar all showed astonishment.
"Pain… emotion… weakness… have they all disappeared?"
"Only the instinct for battle remains, the sole rationality controlling this body."
The metallic voice rang out again. Qin Yi stepped out from the dust, black-and-red light now constantly coiling around his entire body.
The light flickered like eerie flames, turning the sky behind him into a curtain of black and red.
His arms and legs were now covered in white bone armor, making him resemble a skeletal frame.
At the same time, a vast and ominous aura surged upward. Savage, bloodthirsty, ferocious, and sinister, this aura kept rising, rising, rising… until at a certain moment, it suddenly burst outward.
"BOOM!!"
The air itself seemed to ripple like white waves. Around Qin Yi, the desert took on the form of ocean swells, forming concentric rings. His aura, his Reiatsu, spiked violently at that moment, reaching the very limit of an Adjuchas!
"Just how strong is Boss?"
"He's never shown us his true power before, but judging from his ability to help us evolve, his upper limit might not even exist!"
"Now… is the moment to truly understand him!"
The Arrancar were visibly excited, staring intently at Qin Yi as he slowly raised his head, his aura vast and terrifying.
"Swish!"
With a casual swing of his blade, a crescent-shaped black-and-red slash shot forward toward Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra's expression shifted slightly. He extended both hands and caught the crescent attack.
"Boom!"
Amid the violent collision, Ulquiorra was forced to slide backward across the desert. After retreating several hundred meters, he clenched his claw tightly, and the crescent energy exploded violently.
"Just how strong is that guy?"
"He's probably already got one foot in the realm of a Vasto Lorde. Ulquiorra has been hiding his strength too well!"
"No wonder he's qualified to enter Las Noches!"
The Arrancar were stunned.
Their gazes shifted back toward Qin Yi.
They saw his figure distort, and in the next instant, he appeared directly above Ulquiorra, gripping his blade in a poised, downward-striking stance.
His eyes blazed with excitement and ferocity.
At this moment, Qin Yi was no different from a beast.
"Ulquiorra!"
"You've made this king far too excited!!"
"ROAR!"
From his mouth, a beast-like roar erupted.
At the same time, the King of Hell tore black-and-red crack into the void as it slashed down violently.
Ulquiorra remained calm, raising the long weapon in his hand to meet the strike.
"BOOM!"
The collision rang out like thunder, blasting apart the ground beneath their feet. Then three more crashes followed in rapid succession. Violent winds surged, dark clouds churned overhead, and even the climate turned grim in that instant.
Qin Yi let out a hoarse, savage laugh.
"Heh… heh heh heh!"
He pulled back the King of Hell, spun rapidly in midair, and slashed again from another angle.
Ulquiorra rotated his weapon and met the attack once more.
Another thunderous explosion followed. Vast amounts of sand shot upward like ocean waves, soaring hundreds of meters high and obscuring both figures.
"This battle… pleases me greatly!"
Qin Yi's hoarse, metallic voice came from within the curtain of sand. His right hand trembled, and suddenly released the sword's hilt. Ulquiorra's gaze shifted slightly. Then he saw that a chain of unknown length had appeared at the end of the blade's hilt.
"Clang!"
Qin Yi grabbed the chain, his blood-red eyes flashing with ferocity.
"Roar, King of Hell!"
"Clatter, clatter, clatter!"
A dense barrage of chain sounds rang out. In the next instant, Ulquiorra's body was pierced through once again, causing him to pause briefly. But in less than a thousandth of a second, Qin Yi also saw Ulquiorra's crescent-shaped weapon slicing toward his chest, the wind howling with its force.
"This guy… is too rational!!"
Even as he was struck, Ulquiorra's first reaction wasn't pain, anger, or panic, but attack!
Terrifying. Truly terrifying!
Even though his Reiatsu hadn't yet reached the level of a Vasto Lorde, that composure, that cold, calculated nature, was enough to make one tremble.
It was even more frightening than the reckless, all-out madness Qin Yi had displayed in his battle against Kenpachi Chengdui. Because this wasn't madness, it was absolute rationality!
He clearly understood the damage he would take, and even more clearly how to execute his own attack for maximum effect.
The strike came incredibly fast. The cold, rational Ulquiorra showed no mercy. Qin Yi could only shift his body ever so slightly to take the blow.
"Pff!"
A long, deep gash appeared across Qin Yi's body. The powerful impact sent him flying, his feet skidding across the sand for a full hundred meters before he finally stopped.
Looking down, the long crimson wound cut deep, nearly an inch, its severity chilling to the bone.
"Hiss… hiss…"
Strange sounds came from Qin Yi's mouth, whether pain or excitement, it was unclear, but his entire body began to tremble violently.
His blood-red pupils suddenly contracted, turning into vertical, beast-like slits.
On the King of Hell, black-and-red lines appeared once more, wrapping around Qin Yi.
These lines rapidly moved across the surface of his body.
Tracing! Tracing! Tracing!
"Crack, crack, crack!"
Pale white bone armor completely covered Qin Yi's body. From his lower back, a white tail suddenly burst out, carving a deep trench through the desert.
At the same time, within those black-and-red lines, a crown materialized atop his head. His entire body was cloaked in a black robe edged with gold, adorned with ferocious dragons and demons.
"BOOM!"
As the lines finished outlining everything, the very air pressure shifted abruptly. Vortices appeared in the sky.
Oppression.
An overwhelming, suffocating oppression!
All the Arrancar present, and even Baraggan hidden within Las Noches, changed expressions in shock.
The King of Hell… had descended once more!
(End of Chapter)
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