Chapter 11: Being a Villain Isn't Easy
Nice — he'd fallen for it.
Mizuma spun two blades with lightning speed; Szayelaporro blocked both, but a volley of red blasts from Mizuma's left hand struck the Arrancar square in the face, two concussive booms tearing a jagged crack in the mask.
"Surge, Ryugetsu."
Ryugetsu's third form: simple and brutal — accelerate your own time, up to a maximum multiplier of 2.6×.
Unlike Division and Erasure, Surge was the only form that directly increased physical power—speed equals force, so swing faster and your swings land harder.
But like Erasure, Surge had an obvious flaw.
The reiryoku cost was enormous.
If used continuously, ten minutes of Surge would burn through almost all of Mizuma's reiryoku.
Don't let the sight of Szayelaporro stumbling from the combo fool you—no major opening had appeared. Worse, the Arrancar was rapidly adapting to the rhythm; in a few minutes he might turn the tide and press Mizuma back.
Besides, Szayelaporro had only shown swordplay and Sonído so far—none of the laboratory gimmicks the scientist later used had appeared in the fight yet.
It didn't matter. Mizuma never expected to win outright.
Under his deliberate direction, the battlefield had already moved away from the research facility, giving him more room to work.
From the rubble that Szayelaporro's Cero had flattened, another Mizuma silently climbed out — a clone he'd left behind when he used Erasure the second time to counter the blast. The clone had been given so little allocated reiryoku that Szayelaporro hadn't noticed it.
Mizuma sprinted up the ruined stairwell and reached the spot where Ainicht still lay bound by Kidō. He toyed with his blade, adopting the perfect mug for a villain.
Ainicht stared wide-eyed, struggling but unable to move. Her expression flickered wildly; god knew what she was thinking in that instant.
Mizuma didn't cut her down. Instead he grabbed her head, pinning it, and fixed her with a glare that suddenly looked terrifying—sparkling, menacing lights in his eyes that added an absurd amount of intimidation.
"This is a truth-testing Kidō," he said. "I'll ask; you answer. If you lie once, I'll kill you on the spot. Understand?"
Of course it was a lie.
He had Tsūtenroku, not any miraculous truth-reading spell. But this white-haired, timid Hollow clearly lacked the guts to doubt him—if she believed it, the fake truth test became real.
Other than the guilt from terrorizing an obviously frightened girl, this trick had no downside.
Sure enough, Ainicht broke down and, crying, stammered, "I—I'll tell the truth! Please don't kill me!"
"What exactly can you do with opening Garganta? How far does it go?"
"I—I can open… six at the same time. Objects made from my body can also open a Garganta without cost. They can close and traverse Garganta… and I can create layered spaces inside the Garganta so people can stay inside…"
What. The hell.
Mizuma sucked in a sharp breath. If this cowardly thing actually represented that tactical capability, she was invaluable.
No. This Hollow cannot die. She'll be useful later.
"Good."
Mizuma put on an angelic smile for show, then snapped his fingers. He fitted a collar—modified from Hyapporankan, now a useless glowing ring—around her neck.
"Want to know what this is?"
Ainicht nodded, then shook her head frantically.
"This is a Kidō bomb. Not very powerful, but at this distance it will tear your head off." He tapped her shoulder. "I can detonate it from any distance—if you disobey."
Ainicht went utterly silent, frozen. Whether she'd been too terrified to think or actually lacked any reiatsu sense, she swallowed hard and believed Mizuma's childish bluff.
"Why… why—"
"No why. Just follow orders."
The villain act quickly turned Ainicht into a nodding automaton. Mizuma endured the little conscience-stabs and kept up the performance of a man who would press the detonator at the slightest provocation.
"Now I want you to open a Garganta to the human world—Kyūshū, Japan. Can you do that?"
Ainicht didn't dare refuse. She glanced weakly at the Kidō bindings that practically wrapped her like a cocoon.
"This… I haven't—" she began.
Mizuma released the bindings. Ainicht trembled, rose, and with a slow, reluctant gesture she carved a portal wide enough for a person to pass through.
She nearly curled into herself in fear and asked, "I—I did it… can you—turn off the—bomb?"
Mizuma didn't give her a chance to finish. He stepped behind her and shoved her one step toward the Garganta.
"Good. Let's go."
Ainicht reeled back, shaking her head like a child's rattle. "N—no! I can't leave! Lord Szayelaporro will kill—kill me!"
Mizuma snorted. "Did he put a collar on you?"
"No… no he didn't…"
"But I have one."
He tapped the collar with his forefinger and smiled. "Szayelaporro might not kill you, but if you don't follow orders, I will. Understand?"
To be honest, Mizuma was reaching his limits. Playing the villain was stressful work—if Ainicht had dared to argue, his act might have cracked and the whole bluff would have fallen apart.
She didn't argue. She nodded, meek and trembling, and Mizuma shoved her into the Garganta.
---
[TL]
A bonus ch every 100 powerstone.
(+ after reaching 100 powerstone every 2 reviews = one bonus ch.)
100+2review=2 chs
100+4review=3chs
500+6review=8chs