The ring, flashing with lightning, rushed toward Lisa Yadōmaru.
"Crush him, Hagurotonbo!"
Lisa didn't dare to be arrogant and released her Shikai immediately.
The hilt and scabbard of her sword joined together and began to spin rapidly.
CLANG!!!
The spinning Zanpakutō knocked the flying ring away.
At this point, the form of the Zanpakutō in Lisa's hand had already changed.
The hilt and scabbard had fused, transforming into a long polearm.
The front end of the weapon was a wide, paddle-shaped blade, and the shaft was black.
Lisa's Shikai had no special abilities, but it gave her a boost in speed and strength.
Hagurotonbo was a stat-enhancing type of Zanpakutō.
After a tutoring session with her professor a few nights ago, she had established a connection with it.
Hagurotonbo had given her a test: if she could learn a new sword technique before the competition began, she would learn its name.
She completed the test before the start of the match and successfully achieved Shikai.
On the other side, the ring that had been knocked away had already returned to Munehiro Kyōraku's hand.
"To think you could knock back my 'Futsurai'!" Munehiro's eye twitched. "What kind of monstrous woman is this!"
Swoosh—
"Who are you calling a monstrous woman!"
An icy-faced Lisa appeared behind Munehiro.
That speed!
Munehiro's eyes narrowed. Lisa's Shunpo speed had increased by a large margin!
CLANG—!!!
Munehiro barely managed to turn and block a heavy blow.
He immediately felt his wrist and arm go numb from the shock.
Lisa swung Hagurotonbo, striking several more times.
CLANG! CLANG!!!
Munehiro blocked two strikes, and the ring in his hand was knocked away.
Terrified, he quickly used Shunpo to jump behind Lisa, dodging a thrust.
With extreme speed, Lisa planted Hagurotonbo into the ground, using the polearm as a pivot to swing her body around.
Munehiro was sent flying by a kick, almost getting knocked out of the arena.
"Her speed has increased so much too!" Munehiro grabbed the edge of the stage, his heart still pounding.
Lisa pressed her advantage, quickly rushing toward him.
"Then try this!" Munehiro gritted his teeth.
With a wave of his hand, the single ring multiplied into more than ten rings of lightning.
The lightning rings flew even faster than Lisa's Shunpo. The dozen or so rings soon swarmed around her.
Lisa had no choice but to stop and deal with them.
She spun the long shaft, swinging Hagurotonbo to bat away the incoming lightning rings one by one.
She looked like a war goddess.
However, the rings transferred some electricity upon impact, which was making Lisa's hands feel numb.
If she hadn't already learned the Raikiri sword technique and was relatively accustomed to this level of electricity, she probably wouldn't be able to move by now.
The deflected rings made a loop in the air and came back around.
Simply knocking them away wouldn't solve her current predicament.
Lisa pushed off her feet slightly and leaped into the air.
"Your resistance to lightning is really high..." Munehiro was a bit puzzled that Lisa could withstand so many hits. But seeing her start to dodge, he couldn't help but laugh loudly. "But you can't block many more! You'll soon be paralyzed by 'Futsurai's' lightning!"
Lisa raised Hagurotonbo, and a brilliant flash of lightning erupted from her hand.
"I can't control this move either. You'll suffer less if you surrender," Lisa said coldly.
"Hahahaha, are you actually trying to use lightning against me?" Munehiro found this amusing.
Elemental Zanpakutō like lightning, fire, and ice were relatively common in the Soul Society.
But common did not mean weak.
His 'Futsurai', in addition to its powerful offensive capabilities, also gave him a very high resistance to lightning.
Ordinary electrical attacks did very little damage to him.
For Lisa to think of using lightning against him now was simply absurd.
Munehiro raised his hand, and the dozen or so rings flew toward Lisa in the air.
At the same time, countless arcs of lightning wrapped around Hagurotonbo, crackling loudly.
A terrifying amount of lightning power gathered within the polearm.
Even Lisa's hand could barely withstand this power and was starting to get torn open.
Seeing this display, Munehiro's scalp went numb. An intense sense of crisis washed over him, as if a giant hand had seized his heart.
He quickly adjusted the position of the rings, and they flew to form a barrier between him and Lisa.
Just then, Lisa threw Hagurotonbo like a javelin.
It turned into a streak of lightning across the sky.
BOOM—
A deafening clap of thunder echoed.
Raikiri: Spear of Thunder!
Raikiri was the sword technique Lisa had learned in the past few days.
And after mastering Shikai, it had taken on a new form in her hands.
The spear of thunder descending from the sky instantly knocked down the dozen or so rings blocking its path.
However, the rings had bought Munehiro a little time:
"Bakudō #39. Enkōsen!"
The polearm, imbued with the power of thunder, collided with the circular shield of spiritual particles.
BOOM!!!
The power of thunder exploded, and dust, dirt, and gravel flew everywhere.
Fortunately, the teachers had set up a spiritual particle barrier around the spectator stands, otherwise the observing students would have been caught in the blast.
"Hiss—Is Lisa really that strong?!" Isshin Shiba was in disbelief.
His impression of Lisa was still from before the competition; he hadn't expected her strength to have increased so much.
"Lisa's strength has improved considerably," Aizen Sōsuke said with a smile.
"I knew Lisa was practicing 'Raikiri' in the back hills, but I didn't expect it to have this much power," Sajin Komamura nodded, marking Lisa as an opponent he would need to go all out against.
"Katori-kun, is that a move you taught? That's too terrifying!" Kyōraku Shunsui complained. "Good thing Munehiro used 'Enkōsen', otherwise he would have been turned to ash!"
He had been on high alert just now. If Munehiro hadn't used the defensive spell, he would have stepped in to block the spear of thunder.
With Munehiro's spiritual body strength, he would not have been able to take that hit.
Sora had been doing the same, watching the stage closely to prevent any accidents.
But since Munehiro used 'Enkōsen' and was not in mortal danger, he didn't intervene.
"That's a variation of the 'Raikiri' technique, isn't it? The way it releases lightning is similar," Yoruichi Shihōin stroked her chin. She was very familiar with 'Raikiri' and could see its shadow in this move.
"Lisa's Zanpakutō, 'Hagurotonbo', seems to be able to contain more lightning. By concentrating it in the shaft, the 'Raikiri' she unleashes is different," Sora nodded.
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