Chapter 12: I'll Give You a Big Gift!
Good. The main objective was completed — now for the rest.
After exiting Hueco Mundo through the Garganta, the Mizuma who had left the fight to lure Ainicht away checked his remaining reiryoku.
About forty percent left.
It had taken him just over four minutes to coax Ainicht out and trick her into compliance. In that time, Szayelaporro had fully adapted to Ryugetsu's Surge. The Mizuma who'd once found room to pepper the Arrancar with Kidō no longer landed a single direct hit.
The outcome was decided.
Fine. Playing villain against a soft girl made his conscience ache, but with Szayelaporro — the scum of Hueco Mundo — there was no remorse. So what was he waiting for?
Like someone finally overwhelmed by a relentless onslaught, Mizuma visibly began to falter under Szayelaporro's slashes. Cuts opened across his body; his reiatsu bled away. Everything bent in the Arrancar's favor.
With one powerful cleave that ripped open Mizuma's defenses, Szayelaporro raised those branch-like appendages from his back and rained down dozens of spiritual projectiles like a storm. Mizuma barely managed to erect a few Bakudō to blunt the first wave, but he couldn't stand against the hail. After the initial burst, he was swallowed in an inferno of explosions.
When the smoke cleared seconds later, Mizuma lay scorched and broken on the ground — his Zanpakutō shattered, half his left arm gone, barely clinging to life.
"Hmph. You thought I'd let you die so easily?" Szayelaporro mocked as he swooped in, jabbing the shattered remnants of blade into Mizuma's neck bindings and spirit-suppressing collar. Mizuma screamed, at first in disbelief, then his gaze hardened into burning hatred.
"You actually—" he tried to speak.
"Hah. If I damage those two parts, you Shinigami can't channel reiryoku anymore, right? I knew that much." Szayelaporro's voice regained its clinical calm as he stood over Mizuma's furious face. "Exactly that expression — I love dissecting experiments while they scream in despair. It's been ages since I had a Shinigami on my table."
Mizuma tried to raise the half-blade and swing, but that weak, slow motion wouldn't even reach a child, much less harm a Vasto Lorde rapidly regenerating through accelerated healing. His struggle was futile; Szayelaporro kicked the weapon away and crushed his right arm underfoot, shattering bone into powder.
As Mizuma howled, Szayelaporro laughed with sick delight. "Don't waste your strength, my dear specimen. There are many procedures I haven't shown you yet."
This meant the bait had worked. In his current ruined state, Szayelaporro wouldn't simply let Mizuma die; he'd capture him for dissection. And for a third-rate scientist like Szayelaporro, an incapacitated subject was exactly the prize he needed. Research required controlled space — a proper lab — and being carried back into Szayelaporro's lair on a stretcher was the surest way to get him there.
Mizuma's performance hadn't been pure acting; even clones felt pain. Playing the villain had a cost.
On the other side of the world, the Mizuma who'd dragged Ainicht through the Garganta was steering her toward an arrangement and composing a much bigger plan.
When the neck seals and the spirit-suppressing bindings were damaged, a Shinigami could no longer channel reiryoku. But through Ryugetsu's Division form, Mizuma could use clones in place of a casting window and transfer finished Kidō to those clones. In other words, he could pre-store completed spells and feed them to a body that could not normally use reiryoku.
Imagine what happens when a powerless Shinigami suddenly receives a cache of primed Kidō ready to fire.
That would be very interesting. Szayelaporro was about to find out.
Let's tally today's gains.
He'd secured a future ally — someone potentially invaluable in fights against the Invisible Empire. You could argue that tricking a person into allegiance didn't make them a true companion, but alliances were built over time; making irreversible moves under pressure was often necessary.
More importantly, Szayelaporro was hauling a treasure into his own stronghold. A lab bombing was now guaranteed — scientists prized their results above all else. Hitting such a soft spot would wound the Arrancar in more than flesh.
This was turning into a perfect double-win: his two improvised plans had both worked. He'd pulled it off.
Now the Mizuma in Soul Society lay waiting for Fourth Division medics; the Mizuma back in the living world was clearing up the last traces of the portal; the Mizuma in Hueco Mundo was being swung about like a rag by Szayelaporro. The pressure of multitasking finally let up long enough for Mizuma to check the rewards that had just arrived.
[Reward: Soul Beacon has been granted. Please check your inventory.]
The name made him sit up despite the pain. He opened the description.
[Skill: Soul Beacon]
[A technological crystallization from another world. World-conversion complete; issued as Kidō.]
[When released on an intelligent target, there is a chance to enter that target's inner world (success rate increases against lower reiatsu targets). Damage inflicted within the inner world will be reflected 1:1 back to reality.]
Information swirled in his head as the system fed him the Kidō's usage method. The casting wasn't complicated — but the cost was surprisingly high. How it would perform in practice remained to be seen.
Well… why not give it a try?
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〔TL〕
Every 100 powerstones = 1 bonus ch
After every 100 powerstones 2 review = 1 bonus ch