"What is this thing?" The boy pulled back, baring a mouthful of sharp fangs in a grin. "How interesting!"
Cracks spread, and Santen Kesshun shattered, revealing Orihime Inoue and Rukia Kuchiki, who had arrived just in time.
"Orihime..." Tatsuki Arisawa's body went limp, and she nearly collapsed to the ground.
"Tatsuki-chan!" Orihime Inoue caught her. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine." Tatsuki Arisawa forced herself to steady herself. "This person is..."
"Arrancar Dieciséis (16), Di Roy." The boy introduced himself, his gaze fixed on Rukia Kuchiki in her Shinigami robes. "A Shinigami, huh? What luck. I never thought a Shinigami would actually come here looking for death."
Rukia Kuchiki drew her katana and stepped forward. "Thirteenth Division, Kuch..."
"No need to tell me your name," Di Roy interrupted. "If I had to ask every single person I kill for their name one by one, that would be far too much trouble."
Di Roy flashed forward and thrust his hand at Rukia Kuchiki's throat.
Rukia Kuchiki raised her katana to block. The moment she felt the overwhelming force in his strike, she immediately braced the blade with her other arm.
Di Roy let out a dark chuckle, grabbed the blade with one hand, then flicked his arm and hurled Rukia Kuchiki away.
Rukia Kuchiki gathered Reishi beneath her feet and adjusted her posture in midair. Then, with a sudden burst of speed, she dove down from above.
Clang!
Her Zanpakutō struck the hand Di Roy had raised, and the impact rang out like metal crashing against stone.
Noticing the shock on Rukia Kuchiki's face, Di Roy waved a hand and forced her back. "This is Hierro, an Arrancar's signature steel skin. A katana of this level can't cut through it."
"I see." Rukia Kuchiki raised her Zanpakutō. "Then let me show you a different kind of katana. This time, make sure you remember it. After all, this is the last name you'll ever hear..."
Resting her left hand on her right arm, Rukia Kuchiki spoke the name she had once been unwilling to call again.
"Dance..." She twisted her wrist, and the white ribbon traced a circle in the air. "Sode no Shirayuki."
Tatsuki Arisawa stared at Sode no Shirayuki in Rukia Kuchiki's hand. Though she knew very little about Zanpakutō, she was completely drawn in by the blade.
The blade, the guard, and the hilt were all pure white.
The oval tsuba was delicately openworked, and the ribbon extending from the end of the hilt looked dreamlike.
It was clearly a weapon, yet it possessed both sharpness and elegance, with the beauty of a work of art.
"A white Zanpakutō..." Di Roy tried to get a better look, but Rukia Kuchiki's figure suddenly blurred before his eyes.
"Some no Mai..." Rukia Kuchiki's voice sounded from behind him. "Tsukishiro."
It was as if a full moon had dropped onto the ground. Beneath their feet, a circle of pale light spread out, releasing strands of piercing cold.
"This..." Di Roy looked down and watched helplessly as solid ice sealed over his feet and crept up his calves. "What is this?!"
In no more than a moment, the ice had already covered both legs and was spreading toward his waist and abdomen.
Not daring to hesitate any longer, Di Roy drew his katana and cut through the ice trapping his feet. Without even dealing with the ice still covering his legs, he leaped into the air.
"Hahahahaha! What a pity, Shinigami!" Standing on the air, Di Roy tore the bandage from his head. "An attack that can only freeze the ground is useless!" A red light flared from his right eye beneath the bandage. "Let me show you what a real attack looks like!"
"Yes," Rukia Kuchiki said, lifting her eyes. "What a pity."
Light blossomed beneath her feet.
A clear, gentle radiance shot upward like frozen lightning stretching between heaven and earth, engulfing Di Roy within it.
By the time the light receded, the grin on Di Roy's face had not yet faded, but his entire body had already been sealed inside solid ice.
"Sode no Shirayuki is not merely a katana that freezes the ground. Everything within this circle, heaven and earth alike..." Rukia Kuchiki turned away. Behind her, the towering pillar of ice burst with countless sharp cracks that merged into a thunderous roar as it shattered together with Di Roy. "...falls within Sode no Shirayuki's frozen domain."
"What exactly..." Tatsuki Arisawa cast a puzzled glance at Orihime Inoue beside her.
"They were Hollows transformed into Arrancar." Seeing that Rukia Kuchiki had dealt with the enemy, Orihime Inoue finally let out a sigh of relief. "Muten confirmed their movements after sensing their presence, so he sent me and Rukia to help you."
Tatsuki Arisawa asked anxiously, "What about him?"
Rukia Kuchiki lowered her Zanpakutō. "He went after the strongest one."
...
"Just now..." Muten Natsu stood in midair, the Hell's Eye on his forehead turning as he fixed his gaze on the blue-haired man. "You were the one giving them orders, weren't you?"
"Di Roy got killed, huh?" The blue-haired man clicked his tongue. "Then it can't be helped. I'll kill you first, then head over there myself."
"Oh?" The black bandages wrapped around Muten Natsu dissolved away. Bokukō slid from its sheath, and droplets of spiritual ink spilled from the blade. "Anyone can sound impressive when they have a dream."
"So you're Muten Natsu." The blue-haired man caught the sarcasm in Muten Natsu's words, and his grin turned savage. "I am the Sexta Espada, Grimmjow. The one who will turn your hope of survival... into a dream forever out of reach."
"Well said." Muten Natsu narrowed his eyes slightly. "It would sound even better if you could actually do it."
A brutal Reiatsu Burst erupted without warning.
Grimmjow closed the distance in an instant and drove his hand toward Muten Natsu's chest.
Clang!
Ink spread through the air and blocked Grimmjow's attack.
Myōki shot from Muten Natsu's left palm, passing through the ink as it slashed toward Grimmjow.
"Nice cut..." Grimmjow kept one hand in his pocket and tilted his head to the side. Myōki struck his shoulder with a crisp metallic ring. "It would've been even better if it had actually wounded me."
Grimmjow reached for Muten Natsu's head. The instant his fingers closed, Muten Natsu spun aside and swept past him, trailing spiritual ink behind.
"So that's all you've got... hm?" Grimmjow frowned and looked down at his waist.
Bokukō had sliced across Grimmjow's waist and abdomen, but it still had not broken through his Hierro.
But.
Ssssss!
Black smoke began to rise from the area covered in spiritual ink.
"Hmph!" Grimmjow snorted coldly and blasted the spiritual ink off his body with a burst of Reiatsu. "One katana is for cutting. If it can't cut through, the other corrodes. You really do have a lot of tricks."
Muten Natsu held his Twin Blades and angled his body slightly. "You talk too much."
"You can use that, right? A Shinigami's Bankai." Grimmjow crooked a finger at him, his grin full of arrogance. "Go on. Use it while I still haven't gone all out."
Muten Natsu glanced at Grimmjow, then lowered his eyes to his own waist before looking back up. "You almost had me worried. From the way you were talking... I thought I was the one who got hurt."