Chapter 143: A Seamless Flash
"Captain Shimiya!"
Just as Yhwach, Haschwalth, and the others were being ambushed by the reinforcements descending from the sky...
Nanao, Isane, and Nemu immediately landed on the Divine Bird's back. They were all tense as they rushed to check on him, ready to begin treatment the moment they understood his condition.
To be honest, they had already prepared themselves for the worst.
But even with that preparation, when the results came back, their hearts still could not help but tremble.
"How is Shimiya?!"
Ichigo hurried over, ready to help.
After all, he could also be considered half an elite Bakudo and healing expert.
"The situation isn't good... Captain Shimiya seems to have lost consciousness."
"Did he overdraw his power and fall into a coma from exhaustion?"
"No! It's not that kind of coma. He has simply lost consciousness. It feels almost like brain death. But he still has a heartbeat and he's still breathing...!"
Isane shook her head, panic and helplessness appearing on her face.
She had never seen a condition like this before, nor had she ever even heard of it.
Even so-called vegetative patients still retain some level of conscious activity.
"...!"
Ichigo's breathing caught in his throat. Looking at his close friend, who lay there motionless like a dead man despite having no visible wounds, he suddenly felt as if his whole body had become unbearably heavy, so heavy that even speaking felt difficult.
"Is there... any way to wake him up?"
Isane bit her lower lip and said nothing.
Nanao pushed up her glasses and swept her gaze across the battlefield around them, her tone grave. "Perhaps all we can do is wait until the war is over and gather everyone's resources together."
"Then we should first move to a relatively safe place."
Nemu calmly offered her suggestion.
But before anyone could act, someone else came crashing down from the sky with a loud scream.
"Waaaaah...!"
Ichigo looked up warily, but the moment he saw who it was, delight flashed across his face.
"Inoue!"
"Kurosaki-kun! You're finally back! Waaaah, that's great! It's so good that everyone's okay!"
"Forget that for now. You came at the perfect time! Shimiya's condition is really bad. I think only you can save him!"
"Shimiya-kun?!"
In truth, before Ichigo had even finished speaking, Orihime had already sensed a certain spiritual pressure and figure with extraordinary sharpness. Her face instantly lost all color, and without another word she flew over.
Her speed, along with the burst of spiritual pressure that came with it, startled even Ichigo.
Then, under the bewildered gazes of Ichigo, Isane, and Nanao, Orihime pulled Takeru's head gently into her embrace.
"Sōten Kisshun... I reject!"
A light like the dawn bloomed around Orihime, as though she herself had turned into a warm and comforting sun.
Takeru, the mountain-like Divine Bird beneath them, and even Ichigo and the others nearby were all bathed in that light.
Injuries, torn shinigami uniforms, and everything damaged other than spiritual pressure began to restore themselves before their eyes, and their conditions visibly improved.
"This... Inoue, you seem to have gotten stronger. But you should focus your power on Shimiya first."
"I am focusing! It's just that the light of Sōten Kisshun has a property that lets it transfer through contact. Since we're all so close, it naturally spreads. And because of that property, zero-distance contact with my body has the best effect. It's definitely not because I wanted to secretly hug Shimiya-kun while he's unconscious!"
"..."
Seeing Takeru's head nearly vanish into the "dragon," Ichigo, Nanao, and Isane all wore strange expressions.
Nemu, meanwhile, said softly, "Captain Shimiya's breathing seems to have weakened."
"Eh?"
"?!"
Ichigo's mouth twitched. He was just about to say something when he suddenly felt a vibration of spiritual pressure.
Turning his head, he saw Lille Barro forcing back a group of lieutenants, with Rukia among them.
The bird-like head on Lille's body spun like a propeller, and a beam of light swept out from it, forming a brilliant sword dance of lasers. If it had been nighttime, it would have looked incredibly cool.
His fighting style was somewhat absurd.
But the threat it posed was all too real.
Once caught by a light capable of piercing all things, almost nothing could withstand it. In effect, it was comparable to Orihime's Santen Kesshun.
Shūhei had been careless, and a section of his dual-bladed scythe had been cut away.
A large chunk of Rangiku's long hair had been sliced off.
Ōmaeda's Gegetsuburi had been reduced to nothing but the hilt in the blink of an eye. He fled in a panic, terrified. Though he looked extremely pathetic and comical, he hadn't actually suffered a single scratch.
Rukia used Tsugi no mai, Hakuren, trying to freeze the space around Lille. It was obvious she had grown significantly stronger after the "Soul King's Dream." The range of ice she unleashed was enormous, well over fifty meters in diameter, giving her the bearing of a captain-class Shinigami.
Unfortunately, Lille Barro in his ultimate form was simply too much for people of their level.
The moment he was frozen, that strange bird body simply pierced through the ice and flew back out, maintaining a transcendent posture that ignored all attacks.
As a result, they could only take a one-sided beating.
"Captain Shimiya... the Captain actually fought monsters like this alone for several days and almost took them down together with this entire world?!"
Shūhei's heart churned with emotion.
And strangely enough, there was no fear in it.
That should not have been possible for him. He had once known fear in battle. After receiving guidance from his former captain, Tōsen Kaname, he had come to deeply understand that only those who know the terror of battle are qualified to wield a blade and fight.
But now, at this moment of life and death, he felt no fear at all.
Shūhei knew why.
Because someone had already shown him something even more terrifying.
If one only knows the terror of battle, one can protect nothing. Only by surpassing the enemy in intellect and making the enemy feel terror can one protect everything.
"Eyesores! Eyesores! Eyesores! All Shinigami should die! The sinful followers of that deep-rooted sinner, Takeru, shall all perish beneath the judgment of God's messenger!"
The frustration and fury Lille had accumulated over the past few days of being battered finally exploded after being provoked by the weaklings before him.
He tilted his head back, preparing to unleash Trompete and wipe out the entire enemy force in one shot.
"Watch out!"
Rukia's expression changed drastically.
She and the others had already witnessed the sheer destructive power of the soundwaves produced by that giant trumpet.
Although Ichigo had intercepted it once before, the soundwave's range was simply too vast. It could not be fully neutralized.
The scattered aftershocks alone had already carved away the earth across an area spanning hundreds of houses, leaving a trench dozens of meters deep and creating two massive slopes. If someone poured water into it, no one would find it strange to call it a canyon.
If Lille fired again, the consequences would be disastrous.
At that moment, a figure appeared in front of Rukia with a shua.
She had originally intended to turn and run, but the moment she saw that back, she forced herself to stop.
Because the sense of security that radiated from that figure was simply overwhelming.
"Ban... kai!"
Boom!
A blue-black spiritual pressure surged toward the heavens like an inverted waterfall. It was not infinite, but its quality had reached the absolute limit a human could attain.
Before the storm of spiritual pressure had even dispersed, a black-and-blue Getsuga tore through it, slicing off the giant trumpet above Lille's head with lightning speed.
With nowhere to release its accumulated reishi, the trumpet exploded on the spot.
"Ugh!"
Rukia looked up in shock.
"It really is..."
Bathed in the raging torrent of spiritual pressure, Ichigo's form had undergone an obvious transformation.
His orange hair, once cut short, had grown several centimeters longer, much like when he first stepped out of the Dangai.
He wore a fitted black trench coat with a white inner uniform beneath it, as though his shinigami attire and Quincy battle gear had fused into one.
The clothing wrapped around his entire body. Other than the collar, there was no visible opening anywhere, and aside from his head, not a single patch of skin was exposed.
Deep blue patterns of Kekko covered his entire right arm.
His palm gripped a pitch-black spirit bow roughly half his height, its surface wrapped in a deep blue glow, making it seem as though the weapon had fused with him.
Though it was still a bow made of light, it no longer carried the previous soft and unstable impression of something that could change shape at any moment. Now it looked stable, solid, and fully formed.
His left hand, meanwhile, resembled the sharp claws of a beast, with fingers that looked hard and blade-like. It was hard to say whether that was a physical mutation or simply part of the outfit.
In short, at a glance, his entire body seemed to have merged completely with his attire, as though he were wearing a second skin rather than equipment.
It could truly be described as a perfectly integrated flash form.
"Tensa Zangetsu."
Ichigo spoke its true name.
This was his "Bankai," a form born from the fusion of his Hollow and Quincy powers.
Compared to his earlier Bankai, the name had remained the same, and outwardly it did not look radically different, yet the feeling it gave off was worlds apart.
It was like a design that had suddenly become more refined and complete, or a warrior who had finally equipped all his secondary weapons and gear.
Visually alone, the impact was entirely different.
And in terms of strength, it had risen to a completely different level.
Even Rukia, standing so close, could sense the dense reishi in the atmosphere, yet she could not feel even the slightest trace of Ichigo's spiritual pressure.
But in the next moment, she felt it.
Because Ichigo drew his bow, preparing to unleash an attack even more magnificent than Trompete.
The spiritual pressure erupting from his shoulders took the shape of spreading wings of light.
On one side, deep blue patterns spread across the void.
On the other, a savage torrent of pitch-black spiritual pressure surged outward.
At the same time, the spirit bow in his right hand expanded, while in his left hand he condensed a spherical mass of high-density spiritual pressure like a black hole.
The two merged before him, forming a giant cross-shaped Getsuga crossbow, something very similar to a Heilig Bogen.
The cone-shaped light arrow protruding from the front had already fused into the bow itself. Rather than nocking an arrow, it looked more like a gigantic cannon gathering energy for a single blinding discharge.
"Kurosaki Ichigo... one of the special war powers designated by His Majesty! Don't think you can match me! An impure-blooded thing like you, who dares stand against us, is even more sinful than those Shinigami!"
Lille shrieked.
His two claws kneaded the void, condensing a sphere of spiritual pressure as brilliant as the sun itself.
Then he raised it above his head, and in an instant it expanded hundreds of times over, becoming colossal and terrifying.
One could hardly imagine the level of destruction it would cause if it struck the ground. It might even punch straight through to the planet's core.
"Being called sinful by the enemy only proves that I'm doing the right thing and walking the right path...! My blood, my power, my everything... exists for this very reason!"
Ichigo's voice rang with unwavering conviction.
A pillar of light shot toward the heavens.
It was pitch-black, yet covered in deep blue patterns, so dense it seemed almost physical.
The giant crossbow roared as the beam fired.
The golden sun Lille had created collided head-on with the black pillar.
The clash tore through space itself.
It was unimaginably violent, like a laser cannon blasting straight through a descending meteor.
Soon, the golden sun's downward momentum came to a stop.
Then it began to be driven back.
"What?!"
Lille was shocked. In a panic, he immediately released another giant beam of light to support it.
But in the very next moment, the golden sun was pierced through by Ichigo's attack.
The giant beam that followed was also swallowed up and annihilated with it.
The black pillar of light shot straight through the clouds, unstoppable.
"You can't kill me! I am a noble existence, one who possesses divine power! Lowly, inferior spiritual pressure cannot even touch a holy body!"
As the black torrent bore down on him, Lille still shouted arrogantly without the slightest fear.
But when the attack truly struck him...
His body began to shatter little by little.
Clearly, he had not merely been "pierced."
Ichigo's attack was truly damaging him.
"How is this possible...?! How can someone like you, who is neither a god nor a pure-blooded Quincy, injure me...?!"
Vaguely, Lille saw Ichigo's expressionless face.
And in that instant, a realization rose within him.
So that was it...
One of the special war powers.
The unknown variable that represented "potential."
With a single outburst, even a god's power could be surpassed, or perhaps even overcome...?
Boom!
Lille's body exploded and fell from the sky like rain, only to transform into a flock of small monstrous birds.
"Surpassed, overcome, so what? You still can't kill me... guh?"
The countless monster birds craned their necks and cried out, but before the joy of survival could fully emerge, it was cut short.
Rukia, Shūhei, Renji, Rangiku, Hinamori, Ōmaeda, Kira, Iba, and Yachiru had already surrounded them with grim expressions.
On the other side, Askin was locked in fierce battle with Suì-Fēng and Yoruichi.
The moment he sensed Lille's spiritual pressure suddenly weakening, his heart immediately sank.
"What's wrong? Your spiritual pressure wavered just now. Were you shaken because your companion lost?"
Yoruichi's gaze was sharp, and so were her words.
"It's no wonder you'd react like that. That guy was strong. Aside from Ichigo, there probably aren't many people here who could beat him. I'd be flustered too. And yet even he still lost. So for someone like you, who can't even finish me off, your ending probably won't be any better."
"If you're thinking of surrendering, it's not too late. Rather, anyone foolish enough to follow Yhwach this long must have left themselves some kind of escape route, otherwise they wouldn't have survived this far."
"Shihōin Yoruichi... why are all of you people with numbers in your names so ridiculously hard to deal with?"
A bitter smile tugged at Askin's lips.
"It's a shame. If I had heard those words earlier, I might actually have been tempted. But now, there's no room left for regret. His Majesty has already granted me too many gifts. Even if I drained myself dry, I could never repay them."
"Then die!"
The hurricane roared like the cry of ten thousand beasts.
Suì-Fēng exploded forward so suddenly that even Yoruichi failed to grab her in time.
All Yoruichi could do was unleash a broad field of lightning to cover her advance.
It was not meant to deal damage.
It simply flooded the battlefield with blinding light, interfering with Askin's perception. That alone might create the opening they needed.
"Gift Ring!"
Askin hurled a highly compressed poison ring.
Wherever it struck, that part of the body would instantly die.
His opponent's mobility was too great. Even if the Ultimate Poison Ball could eventually wear them down, there was no telling what kind of unpredictable move they might pull out before then. To be safe, he still needed to reduce their mobility first.
"Ugh!"
The poison ring struck Suì-Fēng's left arm, and the entire limb went numb at once, as though it had died.
Yet Suì-Fēng looked as if she had been possessed by fury itself. She ignored everything and continued charging straight at Askin.
Even before she could reach him, the toxins had already begun spreading through her body, and she crashed from the sky.
Yoruichi's attempt to destroy the Ultimate Poison Ball also failed.
Her lightning pierced through it, yes, but it did not destroy the outer wall at all. Instead, that wall behaved as though it were some kind of perfect insulator, completely immune to her attack.
"Sigh. If Gremmy hadn't died, this would have been much easier. If he'd given me the schrift abilities of Vitality and Deadly Threshold as well, I'd have finished this already."
Askin landed as well, wiping the blood from his mouth with his thumb.
"So far, only Shimiya Takeru knows just how terrifying a poison user who can't be killed and can't be perceived really is... No, that's wrong. He doesn't know, because his Bankai never gave me a chance to show my value in the first place. I'm only still alive thanks to His Majesty's generosity. So how could I betray a lord who trusts me so much?"
"You... you bastard...!"
Suì-Fēng and Yoruichi both lay on the ground, drenched in sweat.
Even so, Suì-Fēng still forced herself to lift her head and glare at him.
"Even if you hate my methods, there's nothing you can do about it. All you can do is wait for your companions to rescue you. Well... now it's one win and one loss. I've turned around Lille's defeat. His Majesty should look upon me a little more kindly now, shouldn't he?"
Askin shrugged.
But in the very next instant, the ground beneath the seemingly helpless Suì-Fēng exploded.
She shot forward like a cannonball.
"?!"
Askin's pupils contracted.
Suì-Fēng concentrated all the Kido spiritual pressure in her body into a spiraling mass of wind in her left palm and slammed it directly into his face.
A tornado rose around him, grinding him apart from all sides.
After a moment, Askin fell from the sky looking like a rag that had been torn to shreds, though the wounds on his body rapidly began to heal.
"Whew... that was close! Good thing I'd already adapted to your spiritual pressure. Otherwise, that hit might really have torn me to pieces. Speaking of which, how did you regain your mobility?"
Suì-Fēng, half-kneeling on the ground and gasping for breath as if she had exhausted every last bit of strength she had, sneered.
"Who do you think you're fighting? I'm from the Onmitsukidō. Using poison is one of my specialties..."
"...Your Zanpakuto's Shikai? I remember seeing that in the reports. It has a technique that causes paralysis."
Askin noticed the black-and-gold finger blade on Suì-Fēng's right hand.
"In other words, you used the mark you carved into yourself to trigger a detonation, treating poison with poison. No, in your Shinigami terms... that would be Anti-Demon Killing, wouldn't it?"
"Heh... you know quite a lot. Then do you know what it means when Anti-Demon Killing successfully activates?"
Sweat dripped down from Suì-Fēng's forehead across her cheek.
Even in her exhausted state, her smile was still as sharp as a blade.
"What?"
Askin froze slightly.
A deep sense of foreboding surged up in his heart.
He glanced warily at Yoruichi, only to find that she too was still sitting weakly on the ground. So the foreboding clearly had nothing to do with her.
Still, the look in Yoruichi's eyes bothered him.
It was as if she were staring at something filthy on his body.
Askin instinctively lowered his head and saw a black butterfly crest stamped on his chest.
"This...?! When did... was it when I was being torn apart inside the whirlwind?!"
Suì-Fēng exhaled slowly and sneered.
"Let me tell you... Anti-Demon Killing means the cancellation of two powers. My Suzumebachi can cancel out your poison. Which means its own ability can take effect on you as well."
"No... wait...!"
Askin's expression changed drastically.
"It's too late. Long before you got trapped in that whirlwind, no, the very moment I attacked you, I had already marked your sōketsu and hakusui with two Hōmonka. The paralysis caused by detonating four Hōmonka at once is powerful enough already. So what do you think happens when Suzumebachi's Twicki Kill activates?"
Seeing blood suddenly spray out from Askin's chest, and seeing spiritual pressure gush uncontrollably from his body as though he might explode at any moment, there was no pity at all in Suì-Fēng's eyes.
Only cold killing intent.
"Even if you can develop immunity to the spiritual pressure of a double Twicki Kill... once your sōketsu and hakusui are destroyed, you'll still lose your spiritual power, which means you'll lose your ability to fight."
"Don't tell me Quincies don't have sōketsu and hakusui. I heard from Takeru that even Arrancar, and even the Soul King, possess them. Though I don't know whether that last part is true."
"But judging by your current state... it seems you were never destined to be an exception."
"Ugh!"
Askin clutched his chest and collapsed to the ground, giving a miserable smile.
"So this is how it ends? I couldn't beat Shimiya Takeru, and now I can't even beat the two of you..."
"Although after I die, the Ultimate Poison Ball will fully erupt, and the toxin concentration will rise to a level even I would find horrifying... it still won't be fatal to you, who can cancel out my poison."
"I really can't deal with people whose names have numbers in them, or moves connected to numbers."
"Whether it's Twicki Kill or what happened last time... compared to all of you, I was never really fatal at all..."
As he spoke, the light in his eyes gradually faded, and his breathing stopped.
The Ultimate Poison Ball did indeed begin to surge violently as though it were trying to self-destruct.
But Suì-Fēng neutralized it with Hōmonka.
"I get wanting revenge for Takeru... but did you really have to stab my butt that hard?"
Yoruichi lay on the ground, looking back at her with pure speechlessness.
"How can you complain so much to the person who just saved you? Or would you rather I had stabbed your face and carved a mark on it instead?"
Suì-Fēng replied irritably, repeatedly pricking herself and then Yoruichi with the black-and-gold finger blade, neutralizing the toxins both of them had already taken into their bodies.
That said, when she pricked herself, the touch was so light it was little more than a needle prick.
But when she stabbed Yoruichi's butt, she clearly used quite a bit of force. Otherwise, with Yoruichi's tolerance, she never would have reacted like that.
"...Am I imagining things, or does it feel like I offended you somewhere again? You seem to have an awful lot of resentment toward me."
"It's nothing like that. I simply find you irritating to look at and want to take every chance I can to mess with you. Think of it as venting all the hidden resentment I built up from being ordered around by you."
.....
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