Chapter 169: Suì-Fēng and Yoruichi's Combined Technique
For a variety of reasons, fighting alone had become the norm among Captain level combatants.
But there were occasional exceptions.
On a certain hilltop not far from the Floating Castle, tens of thousands of Kōkon were surging toward the summit.
Even though they possessed the troublesome ability to plunder a sliver of spiritual power and soul energy through contact, that was all they really had going for them. Setting that aside, the individual quality of the Kōkon was actually inferior even to ordinary people, or rather, the ordinary souls of Rukongai. They could not even run, and their movements were painfully slow.
If those below Captain level would struggle due to their overwhelming numbers, then those at Captain level and above could practically ignore the threat posed by the Kōkon altogether.
Even if they could not kill every last one of them, they could still break through the encirclement without difficulty.
Unless they were already in terrible condition, or gravely wounded and on the verge of death, the chances of being intercepted and worn down by this kind of swarm were almost nonexistent.
Especially when several such individuals fought together. They could simply choose a slightly higher hilltop, one difficult for the Kōkon to climb, and calmly reap them like weeds.
It was not a matter of being trapped on a mountain and forced into a passive defense. Quite the opposite. They were standing at ease, waiting for the enemy to crawl up and die.
"Shunkō, Bakuen Musō!"
Yūshirō converted his spiritual pressure into heat based Kidō energy, wrapped it around his shoulders, then detonated it in an instant. A single punch unleashed a world shaking sea of flames, and thousands of Kōkon were instantly annihilated.
A wide stretch of blackened emptiness appeared directly before him.
Unfortunately, his cool pose lasted less than 3 seconds.
"Big Sis! Big Sis! Did you see that? My Shunkō is already super stable! I can even compress it into my fist and blast it out just like you said!"
"Yes, yes, I saw it..."
Thunder roared.
Brilliant golden lightning burst across the battlefield, so dazzling that heaven and earth seemed to pale before it.
Yoruichi, who in the end still preferred open, tight fitting clothing, had pulled some strings and obtained a special one piece version of the new shinigami uniform. It was the sort of outfit that would not have looked out of place even at the beach, and she wore it as an underlayer.
When "Shunkō, Raijin Senkei" was activated, the ordinary black kimono and Captain's haori on the outside would burst apart and burn away, revealing the true shinigami uniform underneath.
The black fabric against her wheat colored skin made her look impossibly wild. Her tall frame and the elegant curves of her muscles gave her the terrifying beauty of a female leopard.
As that dazzling lightning crashed down and turned the mountainside into a sea of thunder, she seemed, for a fleeting instant, like some ancient beast goddess descended from a forgotten era.
"Honestly, after staying in the First Division for a whole year, you're still this childish. Don't tell me you really plan to drag it out until the 10th year before letting me retire. Hey, Suì Fēng, have you even been teaching him properly?"
"After completing that many missions and still ending up like this, the one who should reflect is the actual instructor."
Suì Fēng spoke without even turning around.
Her attire was the exact opposite of Yoruichi's.
It was as if she wore a black high neck, long sleeved inner shirt beneath her white First Division short coat and shinigami uniform, covering even her neck, arms, and hands. In reality, it was a one piece combat suit similar to a wetsuit, made by a certain someone.
She also wore a pair of thin black and gold bracers around her forearms.
Counting the hidden weapons, medicine, communicators, and other items she carried, as well as the Zanpakutō at her waist, she was armed from head to toe.
Yet at this moment, she used none of them.
She faced the enemy with nothing but her seemingly delicate hands.
The hurricane like Kidō energy swirling around her shoulders was "Pseudo Mugen Shunkō." Compressing that wind power into dense spinning spheres in her palms was "Mugen Shunkō."
It was worth noting that Yoruichi's "Shunkō, Raijin Senkei" followed a similar path, releasing massive lightning explosions in bursts rather than forming a continuous close combat mode.
Suì Fēng, however, had gone a step further after returning from the pseudo parallel world. She compensated for the shortcomings of sustained combat and developed "Mugen Shunkō Kai."
From that point on, she could manipulate the atmosphere with every movement, striking from a distance, or condense rotating spheres of wind into attacks meant to kill in a single blow.
So among the 3 of them, Suì Fēng was the one with the greatest killing efficiency and the lowest energy consumption.
The Kōkon climbed the summit in waves, and every move she made erased another swath of them.
As if the enemy could no longer stand the sight of being harvested so one sidedly, divine punishment descended from the sky.
There was no other way to describe it.
Because while rain, snow, and thunder were normal, a waterfall more than 100 meters wide crashing down at the speed of sound absolutely was not.
But Suì Fēng, Yoruichi, and Yūshirō all instantly understood.
This was the enemy's attack.
"I'll take it!"
"You idiot, get back here!"
The moment Yoruichi saw her younger brother charge out in hot blooded fashion, her face went green.
Could he not just dodge it?
Why insist on taking it head on?
Even if he used "Anti Demon Killing" to negate it, the consumption would be enormous.
And in truth, dodging was not easy either.
Because while their attention was drawn to the falling waterfall, a torrent of black light also shot toward them.
Suì Fēng met it head on without hesitation.
She thrust out both hands, and the hurricane pressure around them began rotating in opposite directions, forming a crushing vacuum field like twin grinding wheels.
Giving it everything she had, she barely managed to catch the flood of black light and grind it apart.
This was not "Anti Demon Killing," but a new application of "Mugen Shunkō Kai" developed under Takeru's guidance.
Even the portions of the attack that had not yet touched her were pulled inward by suction and dragged into the crushing field.
If the enemy had intended to use that light as cover for a sneak attack, then they would likely have been dragged in and shredded by the vacuum.
On the other side, Yoruichi moved at once to support Yūshirō, combining her power with his to evaporate the immense waterfall before it struck.
Steam spread instantly, turning the hilltop into a world of dense white mist.
Suì Fēng swept her hand, stirring a gale to blow it all away, then fixed a grim stare on the nearby sky.
Two figures now floated there where the air had been empty moments before.
Their spiritual pressure was far greater than it had been a year ago, and their forms had changed dramatically.
But their identities were still easy to recognize.
"The 5th Espada, Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck."
"The 3rd Espada, Tier Harribel."
The enemies who had launched the waterfall and the black torrent made no attempt to deny it.
Their current forms proved everything.
Gone were the plain white uniforms from their earlier encounters. In their place were the distinct, strange forms of their released states.
Only in Resurrección could they unleash attacks like those so casually, without Suì Fēng, Yoruichi, or Yūshirō detecting them in advance.
"Long time no see, Miss Suì Fēng."
Nelliel, in her centaur like form and holding a spear of light, offered a rather polite greeting.
"Don't you think it's a little late for greetings? But it doesn't matter. I don't care about your courtesy or your words. Anyone who dares stand against the Gotei 13 has only 1 path left, death."
Suì Fēng's answer was cold and aggressive, like fangs bared.
"2 Espada... and both within the top 5. This is going to be troublesome."
Even though they held the numerical advantage, Yoruichi was under no illusion that they had the upper hand after sensing those 2 released spiritual pressures, each several times stronger than a Captain level shinigami.
And that was not even counting Yūshirō.
After blocking just 1 move with her help, he was already sweating heavily and breathing hard.
Even a fully formed Shunkō, comparable to Bankai, could not bridge such an obvious gap in raw power.
If he forced himself into this battle, he would only die.
At this point, only she and Suì Fēng could truly stand here.
Reaching that conclusion, Yoruichi did not hesitate.
"Yūshirō, go support the others. Leave this to Suì Fēng and me."
"No, Big Sis...!"
"If you want to make me angry, then keep standing there."
"...!"
Faced with that, Yūshirō had no choice but to retreat bitterly.
No matter what, he did not want the sister he adored to dislike him.
"Sorry, Suì Fēng. I gave an order to someone from the First Division without clearing it with you first."
"Do you really think apologizing after the words are already out changes anything? Every single one of you is infuriating."
"So that means you don't mind. Good. Then we can work together without worrying about it."
"Even if I hate teaming up with a scheming bad cat like you, there's no point in talking about that now... We can regret it after we kill them."
Beginning with Suì Fēng's cold words, the 2 of them raised their spiritual pressure to its peak.
"They've become much stronger."
Nelliel watched Suì Fēng, who was wrapped in hurricane like energy, and made her own judgment.
"In terms of spiritual pressure alone, she's already surpassed who I was a year ago."
For a Vasto Lorde class Espada, a being who naturally stood above Captain level shinigami, to make such a judgment at all already spoke volumes about Suì Fēng's growth.
But that alone was nowhere near enough to make Nelliel feel true danger.
Harribel, meanwhile, studied Yoruichi, the wild beauty with the same bronze complexion as herself.
"Shihōin Yoruichi... She never fought any Espada directly during the Hueco Mundo war, but she is definitely not weak. I'm afraid she's no easier to deal with than Kuchiki Byakuya."
"If I were alone against 2, it would be troublesome. But with Nelliel beside me, there will be no suspense in this battle... Hm?"
Suddenly, Harribel sensed the spiritual pressure of Apache's trio dropping rapidly.
She was startled.
Even with Loly present, and with dead Arrancar able to return under certain conditions, there was still enormous risk. There was no guarantee the enemy would not interfere somehow. Their lives could not be treated lightly.
"We end this now...!"
Harribel raised her greatsword and fired a Cero.
The earlier waterfall had been "Cascada," and the black torrent of light had been Nelliel's "Black Cero," a powerful variant only an Espada in released form could fire freely without needing blood as a trigger, second only to Gran Rey Cero.
And now Harribel launched one as well.
A dark torrent tinged with orange tore forward toward Suì Fēng and Yoruichi.
This time, neither of them tried to meet it directly.
As the mountain beneath them was swallowed by the blast, Suì Fēng shot into the sky like a bird with wings of storm.
Yoruichi, wrapped in lightning, raced across the ground like a spirit cat. The instant she reached the point directly beneath the enemy, she exploded upward.
This was "Shunkō, Raijin Senkei, Shunryū Kokubyō Senki."
It was the 3rd stage of Shunkō, developed over the past year with the help of the hyperbolic time chamber, and it corresponded to Suì Fēng's "Mugen Shunkō Kai."
This form enhanced speed, strength, reaction, and spiritual pressure in every way. But originally, the lightning attribute interfered with Yoruichi's own biological field, causing her rationality to slip away and leaving her with the instincts of a beast.
That flaw was enormous.
Even Yoruichi herself hated using it.
Only after spending an entire year refining it inside the hyperbolic time chamber had she managed to erase that flaw and use the 3rd stage of Shunkō normally, just like Suì Fēng.
And, with the amplification from Takeru's Kidō aura still on them, their already fearsome strengths became even more outrageous.
At least in terms of speed, they were nearly impossible to rival.
"Trident of Fog."
Unable to launch a large scale technique in time, Harribel channeled blazing golden spiritual pressure into her greatsword and slashed directly at Yoruichi.
That slash was powerful enough to split a mountain 10 times larger than the one beneath them.
Nelliel, meanwhile, hurled a spear of light at Suì Fēng.
It was her former trump card, "Lanzador Verde."
Against opponents who clearly intended to settle things quickly, Suì Fēng and Yoruichi instantly revealed their true cards as well.
"Ikoku!"
"Raimei Hakke!"
These were techniques Takeru had unintentionally "realized" and later handed to the 2 women as training incentives.
Originally, he had wanted to help Suì Fēng master a forbidden spatial movement technique. But despite the immense training time she had gained through the hyperbolic time chamber, she barely managed to grasp it and could not combine it properly with Hōmonka. Instead, her Hakuda reached a new level, and Yoruichi, who later entered the chamber herself, also benefited from the same insights.
That eventually led Takeru, acting as their coach, to create these combat techniques.
Suì Fēng's "Ikoku" involved converting Kidō pressure into something akin to blade force, then firing it to pierce through everything.
Its performance looked almost identical to the "Yuisen" Takeru launched from his fists, both appearing as massive pillars of light.
After all, though her power resembled a hurricane, at its core it was still compressed Kidō energy. Turning it into an energy cannon was only natural.
Yoruichi's technique was even more direct.
The instant before impact, all the Kidō energy wrapped around her erupted outward, turning her body itself into lightning. She launched herself with speed comparable to a true thunderbolt, combining that instant acceleration with the raw destructive power of a thunderstorm.
Boom!
Boom!
The spear of light and the storm pillar collided violently.
Unexpectedly, the result was a draw.
At the same time, Harribel's greatsword clashed with Yoruichi's claws, producing an explosion like a meteor striking the earth.
For a moment, everything vanished into gold and white.
But for experts who fought using spiritual perception, that visual blindness meant little.
Within the dozen or so seconds before the light finally weakened and dispersed, the 4 of them exchanged hundreds of blows.
Despite using every technique they had, Suì Fēng and Yoruichi failed to inflict meaningful damage on Harribel and Nelliel. In the end, they were blasted backward the moment the light cleared.
Had it not been for the Kidō aura and their new shinigami uniforms, whose defensive properties were comparable to Kekko, they would have been seriously injured from that clash alone.
Without giving them a moment to recover, Harribel launched another killing strike toward the 2 women in midair.
"Don't think you're escaping... Dientes de Tiburón!"
An exclusive technique she had mastered after her resurrection as the 3rd Espada.
The golden spiritual pressure wrapping her greatsword extended outward into a flexible whip of light. Every place it struck split open, and scorching currents like boiling seawater erupted in its wake.
"Listen to the lament of a great enemy... Lanzador de Luz!"
Nelliel followed immediately with one of her own evolved techniques.
A magnificent spiral tower of light rose from the ground. Standing atop it, she raised her spear high, and countless powerful Ceros, like stars shot from the heavens, rained down.
This wide area saturation assault was clearly the best possible method for dealing with highly mobile opponents like Suì Fēng and Yoruichi, whose bodies were not naturally as durable as Kenpachi's.
Even with their reinforced uniforms and the Kidō aura, attacks from 2 Arrancar whose raw power exceeded theirs would still break through and wound them.
And once they lost the speed advantage that kept them alive, the outcome would become obvious.
So...
"We have to stop it no matter what...! This one, the next one, and every one after that... Suì Fēng, we have to use that move!"
"You don't need to tell me!"
The 2 of them scrambled up from the ground in clouds of dust. Suì Fēng's outer uniform was already torn apart, revealing the true combat suit beneath it.
They looked disheveled, but their eyes burned with the same hard brilliance as Takeru's.
Left and right, they raised their fists.
Wind and lightning gathered.
Then the techniques "Ikoku" and "Raimei Hakke" underwent a terrifying change.
It was not mere resonance.
It felt more like the 2 attacks were devouring each other's spiritual pressure, blending it together, refining it, and pushing it into a higher state.
And as that process continued, the now identical forces began attracting each other and fused into one.
Just as the enemy's attacks bore down on them, Suì Fēng and Yoruichi threw their punches together.
"Hakai!"
The technique, whose pronunciation echoed the word for destruction, erupted into a flood of blinding radiance.
Its color was impossible to define. It contained every shade of light, shifting and changing from one hue to the next.
It was pure chaos made into a strike.
A blow that looked capable of reducing all creation to chaos itself.
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 10–50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]
[One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, Soul Land, NBA, and more — all in one place.]