"So it has to either cut the enemy or be struck itself, forcing it to awaken. Otherwise, it can't bring out its full power." Ikkaku Madarame raised the giant axe. "Once it starts waking up, the dragon crest gradually turns red. Only when the entire dragon has turned completely red does Ryūmon Hōzukimaru's destructive power reach its peak."
The dragon crest on the giant axe was now fully dyed crimson. Violent Reiatsu howled around it as Ikkaku Madarame fixed his eyes on Yammy's throat. "Here I come!"
"Hmph..." Yammy raised his blade. "Then come die!"
The two figures vanished in an instant. The next moment, the air warped, white mist spread through it, and then exploded violently.
The clash kicked up surging shockwaves that swept outward, wrecking everything they touched.
Yumichika Ayasegawa stared at the center of the churning white mist in the sky. He had no way of knowing how much damage that blow had done to Yammy.
The power the Espada had shown was simply too overwhelming, and it left him with a growing sense of unease.
Whoosh!
A figure dropped out of the white mist and slammed heavily into the ground.
A shattered giant axe followed right behind, spinning as it stabbed into the earth beside that figure.
"Damn it..." Ikkaku Madarame staggered as he tried to get up, but even more blood poured from his twisted limbs, draining away the last of his strength.
"You actually..." Yammy roared as he dove downward. The arm holding his sword had been completely severed by Ikkaku Madarame, and blood sprayed from the stump below his elbow. "I'll kill you!"
He was only a mere 3rd Seat, yet he had made an Espada lose his right arm. Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!
Yammy swung his fist at the unconscious Ikkaku Madarame, intending to smash him into pulp.
"Though Ikkaku doesn't like two against one, since he's passed out..." Yumichika Ayasegawa murmured, "Split and Deviate. Ruri'iro Kujaku!"
Lapis-colored vines burst out and wrapped themselves around Yammy's body.
Yammy strained hard, but a sudden weakness washed over him. "Another Bankai?"
"If Bankai were that easy to learn, that'd be nice." Yumichika Ayasegawa tugged on the lapis vines. "This is just Shikai."
Yumichika Ayasegawa had always thought his Zanpakutō was strange. It actually had a color it favored.
Lapis was the color it liked.
Wisteria was the color it hated.
Fuji Kujaku was just a nickname Yumichika Ayasegawa had forced onto it. It hated that name. Every time he called it that, it threw a fit and would only release halfway.
As for why he did that...
The reason was simple.
The 11th Division was the combat Division. For everyone there, the meaning of being alive was to fight.
Because of that, everyone had long since come to believe that a Zanpakutō had to be used for direct attack.
And anyone with a Kidō-type Zanpakutō would be looked down on.
Yumichika Ayasegawa did not want the others in the 11th Division to see his Ruri'iro Kujaku, especially Ikkaku Madarame and Captain Kenpachi Zaraki.
"With something like this..." Yammy snorted coldly, jerking the trapped arm violently, only to feel the weakness grow even stronger.
"Stop struggling. Just look for yourself." After confirming that Ikkaku Madarame was still breathing, Yumichika Ayasegawa let out a quiet breath of relief. "Your Reiatsu is becoming nourishment for Ruri'iro Kujaku."
The tightly packed flower buds on the lapis vines slowly began to unfurl. These flowers would grow by absorbing Yammy's Reiatsu. Every bit of Reiatsu he released would become their food.
The muscles in Yammy's arm bulged, then slackened again as his Reiatsu drained away. "Your Zanpakutō... is absorbing Reiatsu?"
"The moment the flowers bloom..." Yumichika Ayasegawa felt the Reiatsu flowing back from Ruri'iro Kujaku, and a deep sense of pleasure gradually spread through both body and mind. "That's when you die."
"You've really pissed me off..." Yammy grinned savagely. "You like sucking it up? Then take it all... if you can handle it!"
Yammy opened his mouth, and crimson light flared.
The leaking Reiryoku was forcibly seized, mixed with the Reiatsu Yammy released himself, and that terrifying power surged wildly into Ruri'iro Kujaku.
The lapis vines twisted like maddened snakes. Before the buds could bloom, the overwhelming Reiatsu detonated them one after another.
Yumichika Ayasegawa's body trembled as he clung tightly to Ruri'iro Kujaku's hilt, struggling to keep the vines steady. "So much Reiatsu..."
One vine after another snapped apart. Yumichika Ayasegawa could no longer hold on. Even the hand gripping his sword was torn bloody by the aftershock of that Reiatsu.
When the last few vines finally broke apart, Yammy had also finished charging his Cero, and blinding crimson light erupted with a thunderous blast!
...
"Louder..." Luppi's violet eyes gleamed, and the twisted smile on his delicate face looked horrifyingly savage. "Let me enjoy your screams a little more!"
Rangiku Matsumoto raised her blade to block Luppi's Zanpakutō, and the web between her thumb and forefinger split open from the force.
Luppi might have had a slender build, but his strength was terrifying.
Still not enough...
"With a face that gorgeous, and yet you can make such a stern, serious expression..." Luppi's figure flashed, and his blade sliced across Rangiku Matsumoto's face. "Once I carve it up, I'm sure it'll look even better!"
Ignoring the wound on her face completely, Rangiku Matsumoto's Zanpakutō blade turned to ash and swept toward Luppi.
It should be soon.
Captain... please wait just a moment longer.
"Your little kitten can't keep up with Sonído." Luppi appeared beside Rangiku Matsumoto. "Go ahead and call your Captain for help. I'll do my best to wait until the instant he looks over here before I kill you!"
A biting wind whipped up and sent shards of ice flying, engulfing Ulquiorra.
He only gave his blade a light swing, and the force of it shattered the ice apart.
Tōshirō Hitsugaya pressed in with his sword, every movement steeped in bitter cold.
Ulquiorra tilted aside to evade and swept his blade across.
The sharp tail of the ice dragon came in from his blind spot and smashed toward the back of Ulquiorra's head.
Bang!
Cold air spread as white mist, and Tōshirō Hitsugaya panted heavily as he stared at the center of it.
"After Bankai, the temperature drops even further, and the ice dragon gains additional limbs, allowing you to vary your attack patterns." Ulquiorra lifted a finger and shattered the solid ice sealing his body. "But that is all."
His dark green eyes shifted to the three ice flowers behind Tōshirō Hitsugaya.
Each flower had four crystalline petals.
At that moment, one of them had only two petals left, and one of those was still steadily withering away.
A countdown...?
Ulquiorra looked at Tōshirō Hitsugaya's still-boyish face, and a vague guess formed in his mind.
According to the information he had, Tōshirō Hitsugaya was the youngest of all the Captains.
He had also become a Shinigami only a short time ago.
Though he had mastered Bankai through extraordinary talent, this Bankai was probably still incomplete.
And an incomplete Bankai would naturally have flaws.
Either its power could not be fully brought out, or it had a time limit.
Judging from the strength Tōshirō Hitsugaya had shown, along with the withering ice flowers behind him, it was likely both.
When those ice flowers vanished completely, that would probably be the moment this Bankai ended.
Since it would disappear sooner or later anyway, there was no point in wasting more time.
"This ends here, Captain of the 10th Division." Ulquiorra raised his Zanpakutō. "With your life, sound the trumpet for Aizen-sama's great plan."
"Captain!" Rangiku Matsumoto shouted.
The instant Tōshirō Hitsugaya turned his head, a cold flash passed through his body and split him in two.
Ulquiorra looked indifferently at the two halves of Tōshirō Hitsugaya as they fell. "But you will not live to see the day Aizen-sama's plan succeeds."
Luppi slashed at the back of Rangiku Matsumoto's neck. "Looks like he won't get to see you die, either. If you hadn't called for help, he might've lived a little longer."
"I wasn't... asking for help." Rangiku Matsumoto pressed a hand to her chest. "I was telling the Captain that permission for Gentei Kaijo has come through!"
A narcissus-shaped mark appeared on her white skin, then vanished.
In order to avoid causing unnecessary effects on the souls in the World of the Living, the Captains and Lieutenants of the Gotei 13, before coming to the World of the Living, imprinted a limiting seal modeled after their respective Division insignias onto some part of their bodies, severely restricting their Reiatsu.
The restriction rate was... eighty percent.
In other words, once Gentei Kaijo was released, a Captain or Lieutenant's strength became five times what it had been before!
Luppi's blade came down, but it only cut through an afterimage.
No... not just an afterimage.
There was scattering dust, too.
"Neko Rinbu!" From some distance away, Rangiku Matsumoto swung her sword hilt, and the drifting dust transformed once more into a gray tornado.
Crimson blood sprayed out from within it, only to freeze into ice in the cold air.
"Hm?" Ulquiorra's gaze shifted slightly. The falling Tōshirō Hitsugaya gave a crisp crack, then shattered into ice crystals and vanished.
"An ice decoy can make it feel... like you really hit something." Tōshirō Hitsugaya beat his dragon ice wings. "Aizen's plan will not succeed. So you won't live to see that day either. Ryūsenka!"
A bitter blast of cold swept forward, and a massive cross of solid ice formed in midair, sealing Ulquiorra inside.
Having each dealt with their own opponent, Tōshirō Hitsugaya and Rangiku Matsumoto turned at the same time to look toward Yammy. The Reiatsu there was too overwhelming.
Both of them rushed toward Yumichika Ayasegawa, intending to help.
But crimson light had already burst forth, and terrifying power was pouring out wildly.
Yumichika Ayasegawa's eyes widened. Everywhere he looked, there was nothing but savage red light.
Using the last of his strength, he stepped in front of Ikkaku Madarame.
"Nake, Benihime!" A flippant voice rang out. As the crimson light filling the sky vanished, a figure appeared in front of Yumichika Ayasegawa.
"Urahara..." Yumichika Ayasegawa murmured dazedly. "Captain?"
"Right now, I'm just the manager of a small shop." Urahara Kisuke adjusted his fisherman hat. "Renji and Ichigo overdid it in training and are getting treated by Tessai right now, so I came instead."
Yammy stared at the completely unhurt Urahara Kisuke in disbelief. "You... what did you do? My Cero, how did it...?"
"You saw it yourself." Urahara Kisuke waved the slender, straight blade in his hand. "If I'd knocked it away, other people would've been in danger. So I had your Cero collide with the same thing and cancel itself out."
"What did you say?"
"Don't believe me? Then watch again." Urahara Kisuke shifted slightly. "Nake. Benihime!"
With the swing of his blade, crimson sword pressure tore through the air and closed in with a shrill scream.
Red sword-light reflected in Yammy's eyes. His body wanted to dodge, but it was already too late to move.
The terrifying blade pressure tore through his Hierro and ripped open a wound so deep his flesh peeled back. Through the streaming blood, broken bones could faintly be seen underneath.
His huge body crashed toward the ground, and crimson blood sprayed high into the air.
"Watch out!" Yumichika Ayasegawa noticed where Yammy was falling. "There's..."
"Too late!" Covered in blood, Yammy grabbed his Zanpakutō. Earlier, when Ikkaku Madarame attacked him, the hand holding the sword had been severed and the Zanpakutō had fallen with it. Now, after being cut by Urahara Kisuke, Yammy did not hesitate in the slightest. "Enrage, Ira!"
His ruined body was instantly restored, and his massive frame swelled even further. The hideous monster revealed its true form, its enormous body blotting out the sky. A single finger was thicker than an ordinary person by two whole sizes.
Yammy's thick legs numbered twelve in all, each one packed with muscle, and every heavy step set off another earthquake.
"Where... do you think you're going?" Luppi's voice came from within the tornado of dust. "Strangle, Trepadora!"
Pale white tentacles burst through the dust and slammed hard toward Rangiku Matsumoto.
Rangiku Matsumoto swung her sword and drew the dust back into a blade, but the tentacle was already upon her. There was no time left to defend or evade.
"Santen Kesshun!" Orihime Inoue released Shun Shun Rikka, and a golden triangular barrier appeared in front of the tentacle. "I reject!"
But the force in that tentacle was too overwhelming. Santen Kesshun barely held for an instant before shattering like glass.
"Some no mai..." Rukia Kuchiki swung her Zanpakutō, and pure white light shot up between heaven and earth. "Tsukishiro!"
The soaring cold turned into an ice pillar and froze the tentacle in midair.
"So it was actually blocked. That surprises me." Luppi's voice carried a laugh. "But how many times can you block it? Once... twice... three times..."
Luppi revealed himself after Resurrección, with eight huge tentacles writhing behind him. "Or can you block all eight?"
This is bad...
A flicker of unease rose in Tōshirō Hitsugaya's heart, and he turned to look toward Ryūsenka. Ulquiorra, who should have been sealed inside the ice, was already nowhere to be seen.
The ice wings behind Tōshirō Hitsugaya beat once. As he turned, he completed both the sweeping lash of the ice dragon's tail and a horizontal slash of his sword in the same motion.
In the next instant, a dim green light punched through his ice wings and then exploded violently.
Violent Reiatsu blasted Tōshirō Hitsugaya away. Ulquiorra stood in the air as the dim green light in his hand stretched and grew into the shape of a spear. "It seems your ice decoy can only be used once."