By using the bandage as it shortened, Ichigo Kurosaki avoided the semicircular katana blade's attack.
"So in the end, all you gained was another way to run for your life..." Cirucci sneered. "How ugly. After all that big talk, you're still scrambling just to stay alive."
The semicircular blade spun back into its original position. Cirucci flapped her wings and released it again.
"I kind of feel the same way..." Ichigo Kurosaki gripped Zangetsu again. "It really does look like I'm just running for my life."
A deep-blue light flashed, and the blade closing in on Ichigo Kurosaki was instantly cut in two.
"That was..." Cirucci's eyes widened as she stared at the falling blade in disbelief. "What was that? What did you do?!"
"I just swung my katana like before." Ichigo Kurosaki threw Zangetsu again. "Want to see it one more time?"
Cirucci swung her wings and knocked Zangetsu away, a thoughtful look entering her eyes.
The force hadn't changed from before, so why could it cut through the blade?
Cirucci watched Ichigo Kurosaki move by relying on the contracting bandage, then shifted her gaze to the bandage as it gradually shortened.
A faint spiritual energy was drifting from it... No!
The surrounding Reishi was being absorbed by the bandage and gathered there at high density, creating the illusion that spiritual energy was leaking outward.
Ichigo Kurosaki gripped Zangetsu again, wrapped both hands tightly around the hilt, and swung hard.
A deep-blue glow swept forward like a crescent moon, its cold radiance closing in.
Cirucci's figure flickered as she used Sonído to avoid the attack.
The fierce wind howled past, carving a deep gouge into the spot where Cirucci had just been standing.
"I was just about to say..." Cirucci had seen through Ichigo Kurosaki's attack. "Gathering Reishi to attack. That's a Quincy way of fighting, isn't it? They were wiped out by the Shinigami, so why is one of them working with a Shinigami? I really don't get it."
"I don't really get that stuff either," Ichigo Kurosaki said, throwing Zangetsu. "Anyway, a Quincy called me a heretic. Not that I care. I can't learn that kind of precise Reishi control at all."
Ichigo Kurosaki had once trained with Uryū Ishida for a while.
And nearly drove Uryū Ishida mad.
After that, his training had to continue with help from Kisuke Urahara.
For a long time, Ichigo Kurosaki had been troubled by it. He could not learn the normal Quincy way of fighting, so he could only use the ring on his left hand to imitate it and recreate the Getsuga he had released.
["It's only natural that you can't learn a Quincy's fighting style..."] Kisuke Urahara concluded. ["Or rather, the fact that you can imitate one at all is what's unnatural."]
["Huh?"] Ichigo Kurosaki did not understand.
["Ishida-san must have told you about how Quincy fight, right?"]
["Yeah."] Ichigo Kurosaki remembered, of course.
According to Uryū Ishida, although both Shinigami and Quincy fought using Reiryoku, their methods were complete opposites.
Shinigami used the Reiryoku released from their own souls, manifesting it as Zanpakutō to fight Hollows.
In other words, they fought with [internal power].
Quincy, on the other hand, gathered spiritual energy from the atmosphere, wrapped it with their own Reiryoku, and manifested it as Reishi Armament to fight Hollows.
In other words, they fought with [external power].
And that was exactly where Ichigo Kurosaki's problem lay.
He possessed Reishi Gathering ability, but he was completely unable to wrap that gathered spiritual energy with his own Reiryoku.
["That's because your own Reiryoku is stronger than the spiritual energy you gather."] Kisuke Urahara picked up a stone and threw it. ["This is how Quincy fight."] Then he picked up another stone and crushed it in one hand. ["And this is your situation."]
Whenever Ichigo Kurosaki tried to wrap the gathered spiritual energy, his own overly powerful and uncontrollable Reiryoku directly crushed and scattered the spiritual energy he had finally managed to collect.
That spiritual energy was held around him by Ichigo Kurosaki's Reishi Gathering ability. When he swung his katana, the motion tore open a gap in the spiritual energy around him. The power inside his body then forced its way out through that gap, becoming Getsuga Tenshō.
The Reiryoku contained in the released Getsuga gradually weakened. Once it weakened to a certain degree, he could complete the Reishi Armament normally and recreate it in Ichigo Kurosaki's left hand.
Ichigo Kurosaki's Getsuga Tenshō was only the release of his own Reiryoku. The later Getsuga Reconstruction was the true Quincy-style Reishi Armament, even if the method was still crude.
One release of Reiryoku corresponded to one Reishi Armament. In other words, one Getsuga Tenshō corresponded to one Getsuga Reconstruction.
Once the principle was clear, the direction for further development was clear as well.
Getsuga Jūjishō was the overlap of Getsuga Tenshō and Getsuga Reconstruction, while Getsuga Ranbu was the effect of releasing Getsuga Tenshō in succession and triggering several Getsuga Reconstructions at the same time.
But neither method truly brought out Ichigo Kurosaki's Reishi Gathering ability or his own immense Reiryoku.
To truly unleash his strongest power, he had to further enhance his Reishi Gathering ability while reducing his own Reiryoku output to a certain extent, allowing him to complete the armament of spiritual energy.
Unfortunately, Ichigo Kurosaki could neither strengthen his Reishi Gathering ability nor control his Reiryoku output.
That was where the importance of tuition came in.
Kisuke Urahara had devised the perfect method tailored to Ichigo Kurosaki.
"Your bandage..." Cirucci had seen through Ichigo Kurosaki's attack method. "It's actually meant to amplify your Reishi Gathering ability, isn't it?"
Ichigo Kurosaki wrapped the bandage around Zangetsu, then threw Zangetsu out.
Originally, the Reishi gathered with him as the center. Now, it gathered along the bandage as a central line, greatly improving efficiency.
And with Zangetsu away from his body, the amount of Reiryoku it could release dropped sharply, allowing the Reishi Armament to be completed smoothly.
By the time the bandage shortened and Ichigo Kurosaki grasped Zangetsu again, the massive amount of gathered Reishi had already been armed. All he had to do was swing.
"Getsuga..." The Zangetsu in Ichigo Kurosaki's hand suddenly swelled with an enormous deep-blue radiance. "Tenshō!"
The blade on Cirucci's other wing was cut apart by the light, leaving only half of it hanging from her back.
"It's over." Ichigo Kurosaki tugged the bandage, making Zangetsu spin beside him. It looked rather similar to Cirucci's earlier form. "You've lost your weapon. Move aside. I still need to find my companions."
"Tch!" Cirucci glanced at the wings behind her. "Fine... I guess it can't be helped."
Hiss!
Thick white smoke billowed. The blades fell, crashing to the ground along with the armor on Cirucci's arms and shoulders.
Ichigo Kurosaki's face turned red. "You didn't have to take your clothes off..."
"These are not clothes, you little brat!" Cirucci's expression darkened. "The proper name for our katana release is Resurrección. It returns an Arrancar's body to its original Hollow form. Only when the ability turns back into a katana can we return to human form! Changing form without going through katana transformation is the same as cutting off our own arms!"
"Ah... huh?" Ichigo Kurosaki tried to understand, then gave up. "...What did you just say?"
"I gave up part of my body, and I can never recover it." Cirucci drew out her voice. "Aah... well, that's fine too. These wings and arms burn through a ridiculous amount of Reiatsu. If I can't use them, I might as well abandon them."
Her long white tail lashed out, splitting in two at the end. A smile returned to Cirucci's face. "And the Reiatsu I saved can be used like this."
Bzzzz!
A buzzing sound filled the air as a fan-shaped red blade of light burst from the end of Cirucci's tail.
With a light sweep of her long tail, the surrounding pillars were cut cleanly apart.
After discarding her armor and wings, Cirucci was far faster than before. In an instant, she closed in, her long tail driving the blade of light in a horizontal sweep.
Ichigo Kurosaki had no time to throw Zangetsu. He could only raise his katana to block.
The moment the light blade touched Zangetsu, Ichigo Kurosaki felt his arms go numb.
That light blade was vibrating at an extremely high frequency, grinding against Zangetsu like a chainsaw.
"A katana at this level can't block my attack!" Cirucci stepped forward, her tail contracting with the movement before suddenly bursting with power and pressing down on Ichigo Kurosaki.
Cracks appeared across Zangetsu's large blade. The instant Ichigo Kurosaki noticed them, they spread rapidly under the high-frequency vibration, crawling all over Zangetsu.
Zangetsu shattered completely, scattering into countless fragments.
With nothing left to stop it, the crimson light blade filled Ichigo Kurosaki's entire field of vision.
Suddenly, a deep-blue light bloomed from Ichigo Kurosaki's chest, forming a blue circular barrier that blocked the light blade.
"This is..." Ichigo Kurosaki sensed the warm power within the barrier. "Mom?!"
The barrier had been released from the amulet he kept against his chest.
"Mom?" Cirucci's tail pulled back. The fan-shaped light blade spun and twisted into the shape of a sword, its piercing power far beyond before. "Calling for your mom won't help you now!"
The light sword stabbed straight down. Cracks immediately appeared in the deep-blue barrier, but unlike Zangetsu's large blade, it did not shatter. Instead, it gradually shrank.
"Pretty tough..." Cirucci made the light sword rotate, turning it into something like a drill. "Let's see how long you can last."
Ichigo Kurosaki sensed the wind...
Howling as it passed through the barrier.
It was Reishi, gathering at a frantic pace.
Ichigo Kurosaki's Reishi Gathering ability was not weak. But his Reiryoku was too strong, and since he could not control it, most of the gathered Reishi was ultimately crushed by his own Reiryoku.
Now that Zangetsu had been shattered by Cirucci, Ichigo Kurosaki's own Reiryoku had lost its outlet. The gathered Reishi was no longer scattered, and his originally terrifying Reishi Gathering ability fully revealed itself.
The wildly gathering Reishi passed through the cracks in the barrier... no.
Ichigo Kurosaki stared at the Reishi racing through the cracks.
Those were not cracks. They were rivers of flowing Reishi, crisscrossing like branches.
The smaller the barrier became, the faster the Reishi flowed, and a terrifying aura rose.
Even Cirucci sensed that something was wrong. She increased her Reiatsu output even further, trying to eliminate Ichigo Kurosaki as quickly as possible.
But that external pressure only sped up the barrier's transformation.
The shrinking barrier finally touched Ichigo Kurosaki's body and branded itself onto his skin.
Ichigo Kurosaki felt something pass through his skin and connect to his blood vessels.
The Reishi that had once flowed around his body was now surging through his veins together with his blood.
The barrier wrapped around his body fully merged into Ichigo Kurosaki. He raised his hand, where deep-blue light flowed through branch-like patterns across his palm.
Cirucci's light sword spun like a drill, yet it could not injure his hand.
Ichigo Kurosaki pinched his fingers together, and the spinning light sword came to a complete stop.
With another squeeze, the light sword shattered like glass.
"You..." Cirucci could not accept what was happening in front of her. "I already... What kind of monster are you?!"
"Sorry. I don't really know either." Deep-blue light flickered across his skin, tracing branch-like patterns that brightened and dimmed with the beat of Ichigo Kurosaki's heart. He raised his head, and there was no joy on his face from destroying his enemy's attack. Only an indescribable sadness. "Just a kid protected by his mother."
Even after being gone for so long, you're still protecting me. Still teaching me.
Ichigo Kurosaki opened his hand and looked at the deep-blue light patterns that followed the paths of his blood vessels.
This power connected to my blood... Is this the power Mom once had?
"Where do you think you're looking?!" Cirucci felt as if she had been completely ignored. The light blade at the end of her long tail flared again. "You little. Wah!"
She suddenly screamed. Ichigo Kurosaki completely ignored the light blade at the end of her tail, letting it strike him. Then he grabbed Cirucci by the tail and swung her up.
Everything in front of her stretched into a chaotic blur of lines. Cirucci slammed hard into the ground and heard the sound of bones bursting apart.
She struggled to lift her head and saw Ichigo Kurosaki's back. "You bastard... where are you going?"
Ichigo Kurosaki paused, the deep-blue light patterns on his body gradually dimming. "This is the power my mother taught me. I don't want to use it to kill anyone... I'm sorry. I hit you a little too hard. But if I hadn't, you would have chased after me again, right?"
"Damn it..." Cirucci gritted her teeth in frustration. "Damn it..."
Don't show me that expression.
Bastard.
Cirucci closed her eyes, but Ichigo Kurosaki's face still would not leave her mind.
His brow had been tightly furrowed, while the corners of his mouth forced themselves upward.
There had been a smile on his face, yet his eyes were full of the wreckage left after wind and rain.
He seemed to be trying to prove that he was doing fine, trying to put on a happy expression.
But he could never hide the pain and sorrow spilling out from within.
He was an enemy. All they had to do was fight... Cirucci told herself deep down.
But she could not stop herself from remembering the way he had looked at the end.
Damn bastard...
***
..
If you'd like to support my work and unlock advanced chapters, you can follow me on p-@-treon.
[email protected]/PinkSnake (50 Chapters Ahead).
You can also follow as a free member to read a few advanced chapters.
***