"Huff… huff…"
Soi fong's figure flashed again and again through the air before she finally dropped onto the roof of a distant high-rise.
Her face was ashen, her breath ragged.
She glanced toward Shunsui, Jūshirō, and Starrk in the distance—
then her gaze locked onto Barraggan.
"This guy…"
She had never seen such a troublesome Hollow.
The enemy seemed able to age all things.
Whether organic or inorganic, everything that touched him decayed into ruin, reduced to the posture of the world's final moments.
In this situation, the kido she cast would crumble to dust before even getting close to Barraggan.
And her proud close-combat skills were completely ineffective.
Thinking of this, Soi fong looked down at her right foot.
The shoe at her big toe was gone, and the toe itself had turned into bare bone.
That was the price she'd paid for kicking away Barraggan's arm.
His entire body was shrouded in a poison of time.
Just a touch meant inevitable rot and death.
In fact, if Barraggan's attention hadn't been drawn away by Starrk at that critical moment, she would already have been reduced to a pile of bleached bones.
"Monster…"
Soi fong cursed inwardly, Cole's silhouette flashing across her mind for an instant—
but she quickly shook her head.
She was the captain of Squad Two.
How could she pin her hopes on someone else?
Grinding her teeth, determination burning in her eyes, Soi fong threw back her head and roared:
"Bankai!!!"
"Jakuhō Raikōben (Sparrow Wasp Thunder Whip)!!!"
Golden light burst from her arm.
Unlike other people's bankai, her Jakuhō Raikōben could be fired multiple times.
But each shot consumed an enormous amount of spiritual pressure.
As her reiatsu surged, a golden missile once again formed on Soi fong's arm.
Its aim locked unerringly onto Barraggan.
The latter sensed the danger, turned his head, and looked at her without the slightest ripple of emotion.
Black spiritual pressure rose around him as he spoke faintly:
"Shinigami, you really don't know when to give up."
"All right then."
"Let me show you what true despair is."
After such a long battle, only now did Barraggan draw his zanpakuto.
He said quietly:
"Rot… my servant!"
In an instant, an even more despair-inducing black spiritual pressure exploded outward.
Within that black aura, Barraggan's form changed into the skeletal Shinigami-king form—
a death god in appearance, clutching a black double-bladed axe wrapped in golden chains.
Black miasma cloaked his entire body.
A little bird happened to fly across the sky above him.
In just a heartbeat, its feathers and flesh turned to dust, leaving only a tiny skeleton flapping awkwardly onward.
Soi fong's pupils dilated to the extreme.
She had never imagined that Barraggan could grow even stronger.
But the arrow was already on the string; there was no turning back.
All she could do was grit her teeth and hurl her Jakuhō Raikōben with everything she had.
The golden light streaked across the sky like a falling star.
Faced with such an attack, Barraggan didn't even think of retreating or dodging.
His kingly pressure rolled out as he gave the chain a tug and swung his double-bladed axe straight at the missile.
"Boom!!!"
Another deafening explosion tore through the heavens, and rolling smoke swallowed Barraggan's figure whole.
Before hope could even surface in Soi fong's eyes—
The smoke itself began to wither and age, corroded by that same power of decay, and was erased from the sky as if it had never existed.
"Didn't this old man already tell you?"
"In the face of decay, all things come to an end."
Barraggan stepped out of the empty air, completely unscathed from head to toe, staring down at Soi fong like a ruler gazing upon his subjects.
"It's over…"
Soi fong's eyes dimmed with despair.
Firing Jakuhō Raikōben twice in one day was already her limit.
Yet two direct hits—
had failed to leave even a scratch on the enemy.
…
"Rai no Yari (Thunder Spear)!"
In his black-winged demon form, Ulquiorra coldly hurled an emerald spear of lightning.
Its target was Renji and Sajin.
At this moment, Renji's body was covered in blood.
Unable to bear the strain any longer, he was half-kneeling on the ground, staring up at the oncoming spear with unwilling eyes.
"So… it's over…?"
His bankai, Hihiō Zabimaru (Baboon King Zabimaru), was already covered in massive cracks and could no longer mount any effective counterattack.
Beside him, Sajin's body was also soaked in blood, but he could still stand.
He clenched his teeth and roared:
"Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō (Black Rope Heaven Punishment King)!!!"
With a furious shout, he swung his blade to meet the lightning spear head-on.
The colossal avatar of Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō moved in perfect sync with him, its gargantuan sword cleaving down toward the spear.
The two forces collided.
In that single instant, the titanic blade shattered into countless fragments.
The mountain-like form of Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō vanished without a trace.
Sajin spat out a huge mouthful of blood, watching helplessly as the Thunder Spear rushed in.
"Boom!!!"
A world-destroying explosion rocked the sky.
Under the raging shockwave, both Sajin and Renji were blasted far away.
They crashed to the ground.
Blood flowed everywhere.
They had already lost all ability to fight.
…
"Hyōten Hyakkasō (Frozen Heaven Hundred Flower Funeral)…"
Tōshirō stared at the colossal beast that Yammy had become, clenching his teeth so hard it felt like they would shatter.
He unleashed Hyōrinmaru's ultimate technique.
White snow began to drift down from the sky.
Flake after flake slowly landed on Yammy's massive body.
Once a hundred petals had settled upon him, he would be consigned to an icy burial.
But between Yammy's earth-shaking blows—
And the Cero blasts fired by Apacci, Mila Rose, and Sung-Sun—
Tōshirō never got the chance to wait for the full hundred petals.
His body was struck and sent flying, slamming heavily into the ground.
He was drenched in blood,
especially around the gaping wound that pierced his abdomen.
The blood flowing from that wound dyed the ground a vivid red.
…
"Mugen Jūren Cero (Unlimited-Loading Cero)!"
Starrk fired his guns with lazy nonchalance, countless Cero pouring out as he spoke:
"Shinigami, it's pointless."
"I can fire a thousand Cero in an instant…"
"And ten thousand in a single second."
"No matter how hard you two try, you'll never get close to me."
"And this isn't even my full power."
As he spoke, wolves appeared one after another around Starrk.
Their red eyes and glowing blue stripes gave them an almost cool, handsome appearance.
But Shunsui and Jūshirō could sense the terrifying danger inside those wolf-like bodies.
"…No helping it, then."
Shunsui let out a long breath, his spiritual pressure soaring as he raised his dual blades.
His voice grew heavy.
"Bankai."
"Katen Kyōkotsu: Karamatsu Shinju (Flower Heaven Crazy Bone: Black Pine… )—"
Before he could finish speaking, his expression suddenly changed.
He snapped his head to the right.
Over there—
Ulquiorra was coldly approaching.
Then he looked to the left.
Tier advanced with a towering wave at her back.
Behind them loomed Barraggan.
Four directions.
Four Arrancar.
They had nearly boxed the two captains in at the very center.
"How… how is this possible…"
Shunsui and Jūshirō stared around at their surroundings in disbelief.
"Captain Soi fong, Captain Sajin, Captain Tōshirō, Vice-Captain Sasakibe, Vice-Captain Renji, Ikkaku…"
In the shifted Karakura Town, every name they muttered corresponded to a figure lying heavily wounded on the ground.
Their life-or-death status was unclear—
but at the very least, they had completely lost the strength to fight.
Soi fong, in particular, was a tragic sight.
Both of her arms had been reduced to stark white bone,
and a huge patch of flesh on her thigh was gone.
She leaned weakly against a wall, barely clinging to life.
Clearly, she had paid a brutal price to escape Barraggan's pursuit.
But as the saying went, misfortune never comes alone.
Before Shunsui and Jūshirō could even process what they were seeing, thunderous crashes erupted from the east and south.
They watched in horror as the massive stone pillars that formed the barrier—
Came crashing down one after another.
Two sides of the four-cornered barrier had collapsed.
Half of the Karakura Town that had been shifted away was now returning.
On the streets, human figures began to appear.
Bustling, unaware.
They noticed nothing unusual at all,
going about their business just like any other day in Karakura Town.
Shunsui and Jūshirō felt their scalps go numb.
How had the situation deteriorated this far in the span of a single moment?
Aside from the "old man,"
almost all of their top combat strength had been wiped out.
Tier swung her massive blade, looking coldly at Shunsui and Jūshirō as she said icily:
"So, other than that old man, it's just you two left?"
Barraggan spoke faintly:
"In that case, let's finish this quickly."
Starrk raised his firearm, pointing the barrel at Shunsui and Jūshirō's heads.
"Relax. I'll make sure it doesn't hurt too much."
Shunsui's mouth twitched for a moment.
Then he could only sigh helplessly and look up at the sky, where Genryūsai stood as steady as a mountain.
"Old man… looks like we'll have to ask you to handle this one."
They were finished here—no question.
If Genryūsai didn't step in,
this war would be nothing short of a crushing defeat.
But as long as Genryūsai still stood—
There was still hope.
After all, this man was the strongest Shinigami of the last thousand years.
Hearing him, all four Arrancar stopped their advance and looked solemnly toward Genryūsai as well.
In their eyes—
That single old man
was more troublesome than all the other Shinigami combined.
Seeing this, Genryūsai no longer kept his gaze fixed on Aizen.
He swept his eyes across the battlefield, then swung his zanpakuto and said gravely:
"When you return, all of you will undergo intensive training."
Seven or eight Shinigami who had attained bankai…
yet they had been unable to defeat just four Arrancar.
If word of this spread, the entire Soul Society would be a laughingstock.
In the million-year history of the Soul Society,
this was the first time they had suffered such a devastating defeat.
Shunsui and Jūshirō could only give bitter smiles.
They knew very well—
No matter that they were captains, once they returned,
each and every one of them would face hell-level training.
"Taimatsu (Blazing Torch)!"
Genryūsai slashed, and a wave of fire swept across the sky like a blazing torch cutting through heaven itself.
Starrk tore his eyes away from the flames and glanced over at Aizen with a rather pained expression, rubbing his temple with the barrel of his gun.
"You're still not planning to make a move?"
Even as he complained, he pointed his gun at the incoming inferno and squeezed the trigger madly.
In just a single second, tens of thousands of Cero poured out.
The other three Arrancar didn't hesitate either, unleashing their strongest attacks.
Tier: "Danbaku (Severing Waterfall)!"
Ulquiorra: "Rai no Yari (Thunder Spear)!"
Barraggan: "Kofuku (Decay)!"
Four ultimate attacks—
Slammed into the sky-filling wave of flame.
With a thunderous detonation, the fire was torn apart.
In its place, waves of water, arcs of lightning, and lingering black decay spread chaotically across the sky.
Genryūsai narrowed his eyes slightly, studying the four Arrancar as he said slowly:
"So, after all those Great Extermination Campaigns, we still failed to wipe out all the upper-ranked Hollows."
"And you few were allowed to grow this far."
Shunsui and Jūshirō's expressions tightened.
They knew that when Genryūsai spoke like this—
it meant he was finally getting serious.
Sure enough, Genryūsai gripped Ryūjin Jakka, flames roaring along the blade as he reversed his grip on the hilt and intoned:
"Shakunetsu Jigoku (Scorching Hell)!!!"
Unlike the earlier casual slash—
The moment this technique was unleashed,
Starrk and the other Arrancar felt their faces change dramatically.
They bolted away from their positions without a second thought.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom…"
Ten consecutive, earth-shaking explosions.
Ten towering pillars of divine flame erupted from the ground,
each one spearing into the sky, radiating unimaginable heat.
Shunsui and Jūshirō both felt their scalps go numb.
The old man's attack—
Didn't distinguish between friend and foe.
In an instant, both Shinigami and Arrancar were forced to flee in utter disarray.
The captains' white haori were charred black.
The Arrancar's bodies were seared and blackened.
Starrk's wolf-fur jacket caught fire and burned wildly.
Only after they finally escaped the range of the flames did the four Arrancar look back—
and were stunned by the sight before their eyes.
The area ravaged by those ten pillars of flame—
Could only be described as apocalyptic.
Within a radius of dozens of kilometers, the ground had been transformed into scorched earth.
Several skyscrapers had been burned completely to ash.
The remaining flames still burned fiercely,
the heat so intense that even the Arrancar felt their chests tighten and their breathing grow labored.
"…This one is the most dangerous," Tier said heavily, her eyelids twitching as she tightened her grip on her greatsword.
Normally, water restrained fire.
But in the face of flames on this level,
any torrents she summoned would evaporate in an instant.
Barraggan looked toward Aizen and said in a low voice:
"Aizen, you're still not going to step in?"
He might have lived for over a thousand years, but he knew his own limits.
He was absolutely not Genryūsai's match.
Especially since the old man hadn't even used his bankai yet.
If he did—
Barraggan suspected he would be obliterated in an instant.
Aizen still stood calmly within the sea of fire, seemingly unsurprised by the state of the battlefield.
He smiled lightly and said:
"Ulquiorra, you go and entertain the Head Captain."
"Starrk, Tier, Barraggan—
you three will finish off those Shinigami."
The three Arrancar froze for a moment and couldn't help but look at Ulquiorra.
This man whose aspect of death was "emptiness"…
Had he angered Aizen somehow?
Sending him alone to face Genryūsai—
wasn't that basically a death sentence?
Yet Ulquiorra's expression remained calm.
He answered softly, then lifted his gaze to Genryūsai.
Under the shocked stares of all the Arrancar, he spoke slowly:
"Third-Stage Resurrección."
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For 20+ Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!]
[[email protected]/Draumel]
[Thank You For Your Support!]