Zanpakutō release...
Uryū Ishida frowned at the grotesque form of Ashisogi Jizō.
Unlike the Tobiume he had seen before, there was no way to judge this blade's ability just from its shape.
He didn't dare attack recklessly.
His gaze shifted slightly, brushing past Nemu Kurotsuchi.
The bizarre-looking man before him wore a captain's haori. That meant the woman had to be the lieutenant.
Yet from the very beginning, she hadn't moved at all. Even when he attacked her captain, she showed no reaction.
Was she simply not suited for combat?
Two against two. It wasn't a hopeless fight.
But this was the heart of Soul Society. If the battle dragged on, reinforcements would arrive, and things would only get worse.
And there was still Muten Natsu's situation to consider. If they wanted to go help him, they had to end this quickly.
"Ishida!"
Yasutora Sado swung his fist hard, releasing a roaring stream of Reishi that blew away the purple mist drifting toward Uryū Ishida.
The mist had been seeping silently from Ashisogi Jizō.
"Ah... you noticed, ne..." Mayuri Kurotsuchi sneered coldly. "Then how about this?"
His figure blurred as he used Shunpo to appear behind Uryū Ishida, swinging his blade toward his body.
Reishi flowed beneath Uryū Ishida's feet. Hirenkyaku activated, and he slipped away from the strike.
Mayuri Kurotsuchi stepped forward, extending his reach. The twisted blade that had aimed for Uryū Ishida now veered toward Yasutora Sado.
Yasutora Sado twisted his torso, his black-and-red armored arm blocking the strike.
A flash of blue light streaked past as Uryū Ishida fired a Reishi arrow straight at the back of Mayuri Kurotsuchi's head.
"Hmph."
Mayuri Kurotsuchi reached up and yanked a golden cone-shaped device from his left ear. Twisted flesh, slick with mucus, stretched outward, and a sharp sickle snapped into place at its tip. With a flick, he knocked the Reishi arrow aside.
His grip tightened on Ashisogi Jizō. The golden infant face at the blade's tip opened its mouth, and thick purple mist gushed out, swallowing Yasutora Sado whole.
"Yasutora!"
Uryū Ishida launched forward with Hirenkyaku to rescue him—only for the previously motionless lieutenant to suddenly appear in front of him. She grabbed him tightly, stopping him in place.
At that instant, Mayuri Kurotsuchi swung his blade in a horizontal arc, cutting both of them down.
"What... what?!" Uryū Ishida's eyes widened in shock. He hadn't expected Mayuri to strike his own subordinate without hesitation.
As the purple mist dispersed, Yasutora Sado tried to throw a punch—but his body gave out, and he dropped to his knees.
Blood soaked through Uryū Ishida's chest. He had planned to end the fight quickly.
Instead, he was the one brought down.
Nemu Kurotsuchi staggered, barely managing to stay upright. Blood flowed from the wound on her back and dripped to the ground. Yet she lifted her head and looked toward Mayuri Kurotsuchi, a faint smile of expectation on her face.
She had completed her task.
The Ryoka had been struck by the captain's attack.
Thud!
Mayuri Kurotsuchi backhanded her to the ground.
"Idiot! What have I been teaching you? Didn't I tell you not to let go even if your arm was cut off?!"
"I... I'm so sorry..." Nemu Kurotsuchi trembled, cold sweat pouring down her face as she coughed violently.
"Hmph..." Mayuri Kurotsuchi snorted in disgust. "Whatever. I never expected much from you in the first place. And besides..."
His wide eyes shifted toward the two fallen enemies.
"Killing them now would be effortless."
Uryū Ishida leaned against the wall, his eyes drifting toward Yasutora Sado.
That purple mist was clearly poisonous.
He didn't know how bad Chad's condition was.
"No need to look..." Mayuri Kurotsuchi noticed his gaze. "By now, his body has already—"
"Hah... hah... hah..."
Nemu Kurotsuchi's breathing turned ragged and spasmodic, blood spilling from her mouth and nose.
Mayuri's explanation was cut short. Irritation flashed across his face.
"You're so noisy..."
"Mayuri-sama... I'm sorry..." Nemu Kurotsuchi struggled to breathe, her voice trembling. "Please... give me the flesh-restoration agent... Some of the wounds... have reached my lungs... If this continues... my bodily functions... won't be able to maintain themselves... cough..."
Mayuri Kurotsuchi turned toward her.
Then he kicked her.
Bright red blood burst from Nemu Kurotsuchi's wounds.
"You bastard!"
Another kick.
"Are you messing with me, huh?"
Another kick.
"This is all the damage you've taken!"
Mayuri Kurotsuchi didn't spare Nemu Kurotsuchi a shred of concern. He kept kicking her, one after another.
"And you're telling me you can't keep going?!"
Thud!
"With this little injury, you dare talk about 'loss of function'?!"
Thud!
"This body was made by me!"
Thud!
"Are you looking down on my craftsmanship, huh?!"
Uryū Ishida could hardly believe what he was seeing.
"What are you doing?! Isn't that... your companion?!"
"Companion?" Mayuri Kurotsuchi grabbed Nemu Kurotsuchi by the hair and hauled her up. "What nonsense are you spouting? This is the daughter I created using Gigai technology and Gikon technology. A father disciplining his daughter... what business is it of yours?"
"Created... a daughter?" Uryū Ishida tried to push himself up. "A monster like you actually dares call yourself a father...?"
His voice faded as he finally noticed what was wrong.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't rise.
His limbs wouldn't move at all.
"Only noticing now? Earlier you couldn't move because it hurt too much. Now you can't move at all... right?" Mayuri Kurotsuchi lightly shook Ashisogi Jizō. "My Ashisogi Jizō releases a poison that prevents the limbs from moving."
"A paralysis toxin..." Uryū Ishida glanced toward Yasutora Sado. "So that's why he couldn't move...?"
No wonder Yasutora Sado had collapsed in the purple mist.
"Don't insult her by comparing her to some low-grade junk." Mayuri Kurotsuchi released Nemu Kurotsuchi's hair, letting her drop back to the ground. "The drug I synthesize selectively cuts off the 'move your limbs' signal from the countless signals the brain sends out. It's not paralysis. It's limb failure."
"Which means even the slightest pain is felt perfectly clearly."
He walked up to Yasutora Sado and pressed the tip of his blade toward his shoulder.
"You got that worked up over me disciplining my daughter. So if it were your companion instead... what would you do?"
The blade stabbed down.
The Yasutora Sado who had shown no reaction opened his eyes. His relaxed right fist clenched tight again and slammed straight into Mayuri Kurotsuchi's head.
"Wha—!"
Mayuri Kurotsuchi got only a single syllable out before Yasutora Sado's punch stuffed the rest back down his throat.
His skull warped. His neck let out a crisp crack under the strain, and his body spun through the air as he crashed straight through a wall.
"Huff... huff..." Yasutora Sado's breathing came ragged and heavy as the armor on his arm began to fade.
"Did... did we win?" Uryū Ishida stared at the hole Mayuri Kurotsuchi had smashed through the wall.
A pale hand gripped the edge of the broken opening.
"Damn it... skin." Mayuri Kurotsuchi climbed back through, half his head caved in. His entire head hung against his chest, swaying slightly with each step. "Using skin to drive the body..."
Yasutora Sado really was poisoned, but with the armor on his right arm, he still had the strength for one strike.
Only one.
That was why he hadn't moved. He had been waiting for Mayuri Kurotsuchi to come close.
He had meant to end it with that blow, but...
Mayuri Kurotsuchi pulled out a vial and injected himself. His head and neck swelled like a bubble, then shrank again, gradually returning to normal.
"A rare species, and you don't even know how to cherish yourself, ne..." Mayuri Kurotsuchi approached again, driving his blade into Yasutora Sado's body. "I was going to give you better treatment. You're asking to die!"
The blade churned through Yasutora Sado's abdomen. His torso convulsed, but his limbs remained completely unresponsive.
"Aaaaaahhhhhh!!"
Uryū Ishida's eyes went bloodshot.
"Stop it!!"
"You Quincy..." Mayuri Kurotsuchi turned his head, irritation plain on his face. "Why do you always scream and bark orders like that? Is that what you call Quincy conviction? Every one of you keeps repeating some 'Quincy conviction' right before you die... it's unbearable. But once Ashisogi Jizō's poison takes hold, it seems all you can do during dissection is repeat those boring lines."
"No, there was one exception."
He tilted his head slightly.
"There was a filthy old man. He kept shouting the name of someone, maybe his disciple, maybe his grandson. Probably got old enough that he didn't have any conviction left."
Seeing the expression twisting on Uryū Ishida's face only made Mayuri Kurotsuchi's smile widen.
"I heard there was a Quincy among the Ryoka this time, so I went out of my way to find that photograph. After all, you're the only Quincy research material I've had in the last ten or so years."
He pulled out a photo and held it in front of Uryū Ishida.
"See if you recognize him. It's a post-research photo, so it might be hard to make out. I forgot to keep him in his original condition."
"!!!"
Blood seeped from the corners of Uryū Ishida's eyes as his breath caught.
"What was that disciple's name again? I can't seem to remember it at all."
"His disciple's name is Uryū Ishida."
Reishi surged in a violent rush. Uryū Ishida slowly forced himself upright.
"I swear on my conviction as a Quincy... I'm going to kill you!"
...
"Y-You've got to be kidding..." Ririn's voice shook uncontrollably. "What is that...?"
"This is the final form of a Zanpakutō—Bankai," Tetsuzaemon Iba said, his voice distant. "A power so overwhelming that simply seeing it shakes your soul."
Orihime Inoue bit her lower lip, brows drawn tight.
The black-armored warrior that blotted out the sky swung its massive blade, a weapon like a towering building brought crashing down. Before such a terrifying strike, Muten Natsu looked like an ant at the foot of a mountain—so small it was almost pitiful.
Muten Natsu drew Myōki back into his left arm. Then he gripped Bokukō's hilt with both hands in a reverse hold, leveled the tip at his own chest, and drove it down in a brutal thrust.
"Bankai—Rin'en Bokukō!" (Abyssal Ink Shark)
The tip touched his chest, but before it could pierce, it melted into pitch-black spirit ink.
He had stabbed straight at his own heart, yet Muten Natsu wasn't hurt at all.
The blade dissolved the instant it met him, dripping away as spirit ink. Even the hilt melted and fell with it.
The black spirit ink pooled at Muten Natsu's feet, spreading outward in ripples like a dark slick on water.
At the same time Tenken's enormous blade came crashing down, the churning ink tide lifting Muten Natsu up and carrying him out of its path.
It was as if an ocean had descended all at once, black waves rising like sheer cliffs.
Muten Natsu stood at the top of that cliff. He spread his arms wide, and thick spirit ink dripped from them, sinking back into the towering surge.
Tetsuzaemon Iba suddenly sensed something and turned to look behind him.
Something... was coming.
Fast. Unbelievably fast.
Ririn felt it too, and instantly remembered what Muten Natsu had said before:
["This is... the preparation for Bankai."]
Along Muten Natsu's path, spirit ink had been left behind everywhere.
It had seeped into brick and stone, gradually fading away as it vanished.
But now those black traces surfaced again, greedily devouring the surrounding Reishi and growing darker, wetter, and more distinct.
With so much Reishi absorbed, the ink marks seemed to come alive. A faint sound like running water echoed from within them.
Down in an underground waterway, a Shinigami noticed something was wrong and cautiously examined the strange black stain.
It didn't look like ink anymore.
It looked like... a crack.
The moment the Shinigami focused on it, an eye inside the stain fixed its gaze on him.
"Ah—!"
The Shinigami stumbled back in panic, only to see the eye darting through the ink at incredible speed. At the same time, something like a glint from scales flickered within the black.
"What is this...?"
The unknown presence surged through the ink, racing toward Muten Natsu's location. Wherever it passed, it swallowed every bit of Reishi the ink had absorbed.
Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō's first strike hit nothing. In the next instant it mirrored Sajin Komamura's motion, swinging upward in a brutal rising slash aimed at Muten Natsu.
Muten Natsu opened his eyes, his pitch-black gaze locking onto Sajin Komamura.
This time, he didn't need to dodge.
Because... it was here.
The ink sea drew in slightly. The towering cliff of black ink shattered as a grotesque monster burst forth.
Rin'en Bokukō had traveled a long distance, devouring Reishi the entire way, growing and swelling with every mouthful. Now a gigantic beast's head, scales and armor sprouting in savage layers, surged out of the ink tide. With a high, distant, piercing cry, it met Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō's attack head-on.
A sharp blade was meaningless against it. Rin'en Bokukō still carried the fluid, sticky nature of spirit ink, and once Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō's arm sank into it, the motion of its swing slowed more and more.
But Rin'en Bokukō didn't slow at all.
It surged past the broken ink cliff, opened its abyssal maw, revealing rows upon rows of razor-sharp teeth, and bit down hard on Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō.
The Reiatsu of two Bankai crashed together. Every building around them shattered in an instant, then was swept away by the raging wind.
Far in the distance, Orihime Inoue threw up Santen Kesshun, barely managing to withstand the aftershock of the collision.