"Tsk, does it really have to be now…" Fuma clicked her tongue in annoyance, but without hesitation, she drew her sword and turned toward the gate.
"Yakumo, I'll leave you to watch this guy first!"
"Wait!" Yakumo Kadori called out hurriedly, "Fuma-chan, it's too dangerous to go alone!"
"You're so annoying!" the purple-haired loli waved her hand, not looking back. "Just some Quincy, watch me closely – I'll slaughter them all!"
"And how many times have I told you not to call me Fuma-chan!"
Before she even finished, her silhouette turned into a streak of purple light and vanished through the doors.
Yakumo Kadori bit her lip and turned toward Arata, her eyes behind the lenses filled with complexity and caution.
She quickly released her spiritual pressure, and golden binding chains appeared from nowhere, wrapping tightly around Arata.
"Bakudō #63: Sajō Sabaku!"
"I don't know who you really are, but the situation is urgent now." Her voice was still gentle, but carried a tone that did not tolerate argument.
"If you really are a shinigami, then you should know what it means when Quincy appear. Stay here and don't move, otherwise—"
Another explosion rang out, this time much closer, shaking the villa's windows.
Yakumo Kadori said nothing more, turning to leave, when Arata suddenly shouted, "Wait! Please, let me help!"
The black-haired woman stopped and looked back.
"I mean no harm to any of you. I lied out of necessity." Arata looked her straight in the eyes, his voice full of sincerity.
"Besides, I know Quincy tactics very well and I can definitely help."
That wasn't a lie. As a time traveler, Arata knew the Quincy's combat style from the thousand-year war of his past life extremely well.
Even though this was a different era, the core of their tactics hadn't changed much.
Yakumo Kadori studied him deeply, and it was as if two little devils were clashing inside her.
After a short moment of thought, she suddenly swung her hand and shattered the restraints.
"Stick with me, don't fall behind." She said briefly and immediately dashed outside.
Arata stretched his joints, grabbed Meigetsu, and rushed after her. As soon as he stepped out, the scene before him literally took his breath away!
The entire street of Rukongai had turned into a battlefield – craters from explosions everywhere, houses in flames.
Countless spiritual arrows tore through the sky, and the bodies of shinigami and Quincy were scattered on the ground.
In the distance, a unit of Quincy in white cloaks was advancing in a perfectly organized formation, their spiritual bows constantly firing deadly arrows of light.
One of them wore a long white hooded cloak, with a prominent cross engraved on the back and the sides of the garment. He was currently fighting with Saito Fuma.
"Those are Sternritter!" Yakumo Kadori said seriously, "Old Genryūsai clearly said they had withdrawn, so why are they here now…"
Arata felt his heart tighten. Sternritter?!
Memories of the thousand-year bloody war from his past life flooded his mind, scenes of the captains of the 13 Divisions being massacred one-sidedly flashing before his eyes.
If those were really Sternritter, then this was bad.
…No, that's wrong!
Arata shook his head forcefully, throwing out the terrifying images. Yhwach in this era hadn't yet awakened those perverse abilities he would later possess.
Sternritter without Yhwach's "absorption" and "blessing" were far less terrifying than his instincts had made him believe.
At this point, they perhaps didn't even have full Holy Forms; even if they did, it was likely only that "final Quincy form" like the one from the Ishida family – usable only once in a lifetime, let alone Vollständig.
If they relied only on basic abilities, in pure combat power these people barely reached the level of an ordinary captain.
Yes, I had a bias, subconsciously thinking Sternritter were always unnaturally strong.
In human terms – I scared myself.
If Kenpachi Zaraki were here, he'd probably crush his opponent without much effort.
Shhh—!
Suddenly, a sharp sound of air being torn came from the horizon.
"Watch out!" Arata shouted suddenly, swung Meigetsu, and slashed. A purple-black crescent precisely cut through three azure-blue arrows that had attacked Yakumo Kadori from the side.
The spiritual storm caused by the collision of arrows and sword wave blew the strands of hair around Yakumo Kadori's temples.
The girl with glasses turned around in surprise and saw the wind, created by the explosion he had blocked behind her, lifting the edge of Arata's tattered robes. Her pupils behind the lenses tightened ever so slightly – this man…
Yakumo Kadori had clearly failed to react to the arrows that attacked her. If Arata hadn't reacted in time, she likely would have suffered serious injuries.
"Thank you…" She didn't even manage to finish her words of gratitude when a clear, angry female voice suddenly rang out from under a white cloak in the distance: "Erich! Why are you still dragging around over there!?"
In the center of the battlefield, the tall and strong Quincy who had been fighting Saito Fuma suddenly leapt back when he heard that. His silver-gray ponytail fluttered in the wind, and the thorn pattern on his left eye suddenly glowed.
"Celia, stop giving orders."
"Prison of Thorns!" Erich Wald growled and slammed his palm to the ground. Spiritual particles in the air formed into black thorns, which instantly burst from the void, trapping the twin-tailed girl in a cage ten meters in diameter.
As a member of the Sternritter and battle commander, Erich excelled at long-range combat and battlefield control.
Once he captured an enemy in his Prison of Thorns, he could immediately activate Vollständig, or his blood combat form, and strike with full power – inflicting lethal damage in an instant.
"Annoying bug!" Fuma's Zanpakutō ignited with crimson spiritual pressure. Wherever the blade passed, the thorns tore apart, but new spikes wrapped around her again at the same speed, even faster.
Arata assessed the situation in an instant. The Quincy named Erich was clearly a battlefield control type, while the one who had just launched a surprise attack was probably another Sternritter specialized in speed.
"To the right!" He suddenly grabbed Yakumo Kadori by the wrist and pulled her aside. From the brief contact with her spiritual pressure earlier, Arata had already sensed that the girl with glasses was seriously injured and hadn't yet recovered.
She had probably already had a clash before Arata arrived, but pretended everything was fine.
Otherwise, how could a captain fail to react to an attack like that?
Almost at that same moment, the ground where they had just been standing turned into a honeycomb of deep holes created by dozens of spiritual arrows.
In a pale blue trail of spiritual steps, a short-haired girl landed from the sky near them, and the twin cross quivers on her belt rattled with her movement.
"Good reaction, mister Shinigami." Celia Blaze tilted her head slightly and bared her fangs in a smile, while the wing emblem on the cuffs of her white cloak fluttered in the wind.
"But this next move won't be so easy to dodge~"
Suddenly her figure split into seven afterimages surrounding them in a fan shape, each drawing a bow and gathering spiritual energy.
"Stardust Snap: Honeycomb!"
The moment seven arrows were released simultaneously from the bowstrings, Arata noticed a cunning smile at the corner of her lips.
"Hadō #73: Sōren Sōkatsui!"
With his left hand Arata activated a high-level Hadō, while with his right he slashed his sword, cutting down the incoming arrows.
Two pale blue flaming spheres struck Celia's true body precisely, forcing her to cancel the technique and retreat.
"Ha?" Celia reformed a hundred meters away, and a scorched mark could be seen on one corner of her Quincy uniform.
She blinked in surprise. "Shinigami, how did you see through…"
"It's just a technique of spiritual pressure perception. Is that really so hard?"
"Shinigami, you're pretty cocky!" Celia stomped her foot in anger, the red ribbon on her head fluttering in the gusts of wind.
"How dare some guy who's not even a captain act so arrogant toward the Sternritter?"