Chapter 168: The Fate of Number 6
The environment within the Jigokuchō was much the same, a world of endless canyons.
Roughly a dozen kilometers away from where the main force of the Gotei 13 had arrived, a distance that would have been the equivalent of another city in the Human World, there was another canyon.
Clang!
A giant scythe slammed against a serrated longsword, producing an earth shaking metallic shriek.
As sparks scattered wildly, the aftermath surged outward like a violent tide. The cliffs on both sides of the canyon were already covered in scars, and the ground was webbed with cracks. If this continued, collapse was only a matter of time.
It was difficult to imagine that such tiny figures, insignificant compared to the canyon itself, could possess this level of destructive power.
But for those who knew their identities, it was perfectly natural.
The one wielding the giant scythe was the 7th Espada, Nnoitra Gilga.
The one meeting him head on with a serrated longsword was the Captain of the Eleventh Division, Kenpachi Zaraki.
Both were famous combat fanatics within their respective camps.
Their overwhelming strength was only to be expected.
Even Yachiru, who stood at the edge of the battlefield cheering with no regard for the danger of the collapsing canyon, was far from ordinary.
No matter how many people were present, wherever these 3 stood became the most brutal battlefield of all. That fact had long since been recognized by everyone.
"Hahahaha... You're pretty good! So why'd you try to run the moment you saw me, and run all the way out here too? What a waste of energy. You should've saved it so you could kill me a little longer!"
Kenpachi swung his blade in wild delight, his laughter so loud it drowned out the grinding crash of steel.
His grin was even more savage than the battle shockwaves ravaging the canyon.
"I wasn't trying to run! I wanted to kill that stinking woman, Retsu Unohana, first! But you kept clinging to me like a lunatic. Since I can't shake you, then I'll cut you down before I go back and cut her down!"
Nnoitra roared, furious. The force he poured into his giant scythe multiplied several times over, as though he were swinging a skyscraper.
It was not a special technique, just raw slashing force, but very few could endure it head on.
Kenpachi, however, crushed it from the front.
Or rather, he overwhelmed it head on with brutally dense, high quality spiritual pressure.
Boom!
Nnoitra was blasted backward and slammed into one side of the cliff. In the next moment, the entire wall caved in, turning half the canyon into a jagged mountain of falling stone.
"Sorry about that. When you said you wanted to cut down Retsu, I got a little too into it and didn't control my strength. I don't really owe her anything, but Yachiru does owe her a favor."
Watching Nnoitra reappear from the exploding rubble, blowing away dust and shattered rock with spiritual pressure alone, Kenpachi's eyes gleamed with anticipation.
"If you were weak, I wouldn't care. But you've got some strength. If I let you run off to Unohana now, more than one person is going to chew me out later. So from here on, I'm fighting with the intention of killing you. Since I gave you a warning, you'd better work harder and last longer."
"You... do you think you've already got me cornered?!"
Nnoitra shook with rage at those sincere words, words more insulting than any provocation. But from that last exchange, he had also realized something clearly.
His normal state was not enough to defeat the monster in front of him.
If he wanted to vent his fury through slaughter, he would have to reveal his true power.
Then...
"I'll take that as your last warning... Pray, Santa Teresa!"
Spiritual pressure exploded outward, shaking the air.
His white uniform peeled away and was replaced by a black carapace.
His new form carried heavy mantis traits, slender but brimming with sharp aggression in every part. The 2 golden horns on his head radiated brutal power.
"Oh?"
Kenpachi's expression brightened with interest, but Nnoitra moved first, lunging forward without warning. He smashed Kenpachi into the air, then transformed into a streak of golden light and began piercing through him over and over like an arrow.
In an instant, he struck countless times.
Only a web of golden trajectories remained in the sky.
At the center of them, Kenpachi seemed nailed in place, left to be slaughtered without resistance.
His new shinigami uniform was soon in tatters, and his chest and arms were drenched in blood.
It was no different from being hacked to pieces.
Yachiru, who had been cheering, suddenly frowned in worry.
"Little Kenpachi...!"
As if sensing her unease, Kenpachi answered with action.
While Nnoitra sneered, "Is that all you've got, Shinigami?", a surge of spiritual pressure suddenly erupted, golden like Nnoitra's, yet incomparably heavier.
Kenpachi twisted his wrist and aimed his blade at the incoming Nnoitra.
"Wha...?!"
Nnoitra felt danger from that seemingly simple slash. He crossed the arm blades extending from his hands, turning offense into defense.
But he was still smashed straight out of the sky.
It was because Kenpachi's blade now carried an even greater, more transcendent force.
Before that force, the arm strength Nnoitra took such pride in meant nothing.
Though he was not injured, a shadow of dread crept into his heart.
His Resurrección had raised his combat ability to more than 10 times what it had once been.
And yet this Shinigami, who still had not released his Zanpakutō, was still suppressing him.
"Not bad."
High above, Kenpachi wiped the blood from the corner of his eye and grinned at the Nnoitra below.
"I didn't think your speed would get this crazy after Resurrección. I'm so happy my head's spinning."
This was not dizziness from being hit. It was the dizzying thrill of finding a worthy opponent.
Nnoitra could tell he was not bluffing.
"Heh... heh heh... So that's it. You're the same type as me. We both revel in battle. No wonder you came straight after me the moment you saw me. Is this what they call, the same kind recognizing the same kind? You couldn't wait to kill me."
"Huh? What the hell are you babbling about?"
"Nothing. Just talking about what you're about to face."
Boom!
Under Kenpachi's mildly confused stare, Nnoitra's spiritual pressure swelled again.
Though a 10 fold increase in combat power over his old Resurrección did not necessarily mean his raw spiritual pressure multiplied by 10 as well, his current pressure was clearly rising toward that level.
"Santa Teresa, Grand Scythe!"
Like Madarame drawing reishi into his Bankai, a golden crescent formed behind Nnoitra. The 4 black and gold scythe blades on his back fed on that crescent and became thicker, larger, and infinitely more savage.
It could clearly function as a tremendous offensive weapon.
Or rather, Nnoitra himself had taken another step beyond ordinary Resurrección.
This was not a Segunda Etapa.
But in terms of the nature of the power, it was no weaker.
It was a specialized technique evolved from his Aspect of Death, Ecstasy.
Every Espada possessed one.
Trading blows with Nnoitra in this new state, Kenpachi quickly sensed that something had changed.
"His spiritual pressure is still climbing... So it's a technique that keeps getting stronger during battle, the more he fights, the stronger he becomes. That's pretty similar to how I used to be... Interesting!"
His beast like instincts instantly saw through it.
Nnoitra, meanwhile, was equally unsettled.
Even at full power, he still couldn't overwhelm Kenpachi.
"You bastard...!"
"Not 'you bastard.' It's Zaraki Kenpachi, Captain of the Eleventh Division. And while we're at it, I'll tell you the name of the blade that'll cut you down... Drink, Nozarashi!"
"What?!"
Boom!
Spiritual pressure flooded into the blade, and the weapon transformed mid swing into a giant cleaver.
The strike came down like it was splitting heaven and earth itself.
For the first time since the battle began, Nnoitra's supposedly invincible Hierro was broken apart by pure force.
...
"Good grief. I can feel the Captain's spiritual pressure even from here... Looks like he really did run into a worthy opponent. Well, it's about the same on my side."
Ikkaku held his spear at the ready while his gaze moved across the skeleton soldiers surrounding him, finally settling on the Arrancar guarding them.
The upper body was humanoid and wore a bull skull mask.
The lower body was a towering tree.
Its branches were lush, and fruits kept dropping from them, turning into skeleton soldiers as soon as they hit the ground.
"An Arrancar who can create soldiers? You're not in the old records. A newcomer?"
"Rudbornn Chelute, Captain of the Exequias. It is a pleasure."
"I'm Madarame Ikkaku, 3rd Seat of the Eleventh Division... Come to think of it, I heard from Iba that Captain Komamura was ambushed by some skull headed bastard and missed his chance to arrest the criminal Tōsen. That wasn't you, was it?"
"It was."
"...Iba complained about it more than once while drinking with me. Too bad he didn't run into you. Doesn't matter though. I'll get revenge for him myself. Then he'll owe me a big favor, and maybe next time he'll stop dragging his feet when I send him out to buy sake."
"To treat defeating me, one who possesses the power of a creator, as something inevitable... you truly are the definition of a fool."
Ikkaku only smiled dismissively.
"We'll see who's right once we start! Bankai... Ryūmon Hōzukimaru!"
In the distance, Yumichika was still busy wiping out Kōkon. Feeling the explosion of spiritual pressure, he looked toward Ikkaku's battlefield, where giant rotating blades were already blasting apart skeleton after skeleton, and let out a faint sigh.
"Must be nice. After the Captain Commander repaired his Bankai, he gets to use it to his heart's content. Unlike mine, mine isn't damaged, but I don't need to reveal my real strength just to handle a bunch of Kōkon."
The instant he finished speaking, a mixed Cero shot toward the center of his back.
Boom!
"Nice one, Dondochakka! That's one down! Our surprise attack training totally paid off. Next time we see that fat one, it'll definitely work on him too!"
Pesche and Dondochakka leaped out from behind a rock and high fived gleefully.
"The fat one? You mean Ōmaeda?"
On the scorched ground left behind by the Cero, dust swirled.
Yumichika's voice drifted out of it lazily.
"?!"
"So your trick might work on him. But on me, not a chance."
As the smoke thinned, a sphere made of tangled azure vines appeared before them.
"But this is a good chance for me. Since I finally have a reason to use the power I've been hiding. If I leave it unused too long, it'll get rusty. A member of the Eleventh Division neglecting to sharpen his combat skills, that would be ridiculous, wouldn't it? So please... help me get some real practice in."
The vines retracted, revealing Yumichika's handsome face.
And the murderous smile on it.
Pesche and Dondochakka exchanged a horrified look, then turned and ran without a word.
The chase began at once.
...
While the Jigokuchō was undergoing a dramatic transformation under someone's control, thick clouds had begun to gather overhead. The sky was still bright, but it now carried a crushing sense of pressure.
These were not rain clouds. There was no thunder, no lightning.
And yet blue lightning was present, flickering across the plain, moving several times faster than Nnoitra's golden streaks and making even the sea of cherry blossoms seem too slow to catch it.
Even when the petals split into dozens of currents to encircle it, it slipped away effortlessly.
"So this is your Bankai? Compared to your Shikai, all you did was increase the number of blades. Nothing special. I was looking forward to crossing swords with my Resurrección against something worth the trouble, but it seems I overestimated you."
"A year ago, I could already drive your ice wielding Captain and several other not weak Shinigami into a corner. Now I've been resurrected, grown stronger, and even gone to Hueco Mundo to devour rival Menos. Before I knew it, I had become a Vasto Lorde. How could a mediocre Captain like you possibly stand against someone like me?"
"I'd better finish you off quickly and go find your Captain Commander, or Kurosaki Ichigo, or that Shinigami they say is the greatest at cutting people down."
A trace of mockery flashed through Grimmjow's eyes.
After his Resurrección, his appearance had changed greatly. His body was covered in black leopard patterns, and his reishi blazed around him like flames. He lunged like a spear, cutting straight through the sea of petals as if it were nothing, intending to decapitate Byakuya.
The flower petal blades, identical to cherry blossoms in form, could not leave a single lasting wound on Grimmjow's body, which was protected by Hierro and wrapped in dense spiritual pressure.
Byakuya remained calm. He raised one hand and directed Senbonzakura Kageyoshi to intercept, then shifted at once into Gōkei, forming a cage of blades vast enough to swallow an army.
The attack did damage Grimmjow.
But only that much.
In the very next moment, a flash of light strong enough to tear through the void erupted.
It not only blasted apart the cage of blades but swallowed Byakuya's position in the aftermath and shaved the peak off the mountain behind him.
The destructive power was terrifying.
Byakuya reappeared to the side using Shunpo.
"Back then, I heard you and Harribel fought to a draw. I'm beginning to wonder if that was ever true."
The voice came from behind him without warning.
Then a right hand, held straight like a blade, pierced through Byakuya's chest from behind, dealing a clear and undeniable fatal wound.
"With this much carelessness, could you really have driven Harribel that far? Or has your false sense of victory blinded you and dulled your technique?"
Grimmjow had barely finished speaking when his vision blurred.
The body he had struck dissolved into black cloth.
In the next instant, 6 bands of light locked around his waist.
"Don't trouble yourself over that. Whether it's you or her, you're all enemies who need to be killed. There are plenty more like you on this battlefield. That's why I can never relax for a second. Only then can I place my blade against your throat the moment I choose to kill you."
Byakuya reappeared behind Grimmjow, having used the secret Shihōin footwork to slip around him.
At some point, the sea of petals had already condensed into 1000 blades, every tip aimed at Grimmjow and brimming with lethal intent.
Grimmjow did not turn around. He only glanced at the 1000 blades filling the air around him and slowly bared a savage grin.
"Hey, Shinigami. What's your name?"
"Kuchiki Byakuya, Captain of the Sixth Division."
"Then that's convenient. I'm number 6 too, the Sexta Espada of Destruction, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. Let's have ourselves a proper massacre... Great Leopard Flash!"
Crack!
The plates of Rikujōkōrō were shattered by force.
Great Leopard Flash, born from the concept of Destruction, was a further evolution of Desgarrón.
In simple terms, it was very similar to the relationship between Senbonzakura and Senbonzakura Kageyoshi, an amplified form of claws of light in both scale and quantity.
And what opposed it was a secret technique Byakuya had refined over the past year.
"Secret Art, Ikka Senjinka."
Perhaps there really was something fated in the identity of "number 6."
Their styles were unexpectedly alike.
And for that very reason, their clash was destined to be brutally fierce.
Especially now that Byakuya had used himself as bait and deliberately discarded the Untouchable Zone, forcing all 1000 blades into a suicidal all out strike.
The moment Renji sensed it, a bad feeling surged through him.
"Captain..."
He instinctively turned toward the source of Byakuya's spiritual pressure.
That movement immediately irritated his own opponent.
"Ggio! Kill him!"
It was practically a replay of the battle in Hueco Mundo a year ago.
It was not Renji's fault.
Apache, Sung Sun, and Loly Aivirrne, whom he had defeated back then, had come specifically to block him and settle scores.
The summoned beast Ggio also seemed to recognize Renji immediately. The sight of him drove its eyes red with fury, and it charged straight in, eager to tear him apart.
But the result did not unfold the way Apache and the others had imagined.
The giant skeletal snake wrapped itself around Ggio in an instant, pinning it down so completely that it could not move.
"Seriously? Are you all looking down on me this much? If I could beat you a year ago, why would I suddenly lose now? Unless you've somehow gotten ridiculously stronger overnight, and I don't buy that. And even if you've been training, so have I."
"And..."
Renji gripped the hilt at the tail end of the skeletal snake, raising his brows as he glared ahead.
"The Captain may need my help, and Rukia was taken by you bastards... Damn it, I don't have time to waste on you. Go, Hihio Zabimaru!"
With a brutal swing, he hurled Ggio straight into the sky, then unleashed a crimson blast comparable to Gran Rey Cero itself, blowing the beast apart into mangled flesh. Even if it wanted to regenerate, it would not be doing so any time soon.
Then the snake head hissed and lunged toward the pale faced Apache trio.
.....
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