The moment those voices rang out, Kurayashiki Ryoma, locked in combat with a host body, faltered, his blade pausing for a split second.
He turned, stunned, toward the source of the erupting reiatsu.
"Gokusaiga…?!"
He wasn't alone.
Every Shinigami and host body in the vicinity seemed frozen, awestruck by the overwhelming reiatsu. All eyes fixed on the horned Vasto Lorde at the center, wreathed in flickering, flame-like reiatsu.
Blazing cyan reiatsu ignited the Vasto Lorde's steel-like skin, clinging to its mask.
With sharp cracks, the heavy mask splintered under the burning reiatsu, fissures spreading across its surface.
It gently touched its face.
Large chunks of the mask fell away, revealing a familiar visage.
Takasugi.
Yet, as the mask on his face shattered, the half-mask over his chest began to extend chaotically toward the other side.
The Hollow hole, previously half-covered, now seemed on the verge of being fully obscured.
"Ah… aaah!"
Amid piercing wails, four crab-like bone limbs erupted from the man's back, piercing through flesh and steel skin, flailing wildly.
Finally, the cries ceased.
Takasugi stood, head bowed, the horn on his forehead extending slightly. His body sagged, as if drained.
The instant the mask broke, Ginrei recognized him.
His already icy expression grew colder, nerves taut.
The cyan threads swirling around him billowed like flames.
"Takasugi!"
"You know what you're doing, don't you?"
But the moment the name left his lips, the Vasto Lorde reacted as if struck, snapping its head toward him.
In that moment, Ginrei noticed.
Its eyes remained the black-yellow of a Hollow.
A sudden, shrill alarm blared in the depths of Ginrei's mind.
Instinctively, he tilted his head to the side.
Whoosh,
Without warning, a crimson Cero grazed past where his forehead had been.
Strands of his hair, caught in the blast, snapped and scattered.
Ginrei's pupils constricted.
How?!
The thought barely formed when he caught Takasugi's suppressed, feral gaze.
Boom!
A dark claw tore through the air, aimed at his loathsome eyes.
Ginrei instinctively wove the surrounding threads into a cyan katana, gripping it in reverse to block the claw.
But the sheer force from the strike drove him into the brittle rock, burying his legs up to the calves.
Before he could react, Takasugi swung the hilt in his other hand.
Whoosh,
A whip-like crack split the air.
Ginrei instinctively conjured another thread-blade to parry.
But it met nothing.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
A flurry of sharp snaps erupted behind him.
The cyan threads enveloping Ginrei flared like wind-stoked flames, surging to shield his neck.
Clang!
A heavy blow struck his back, sending Ginrei tumbling across the barren ground, carving a long trench.
He staggered to his feet, hand instinctively touching his nape.
Lingering fear gripped him.
Without his Bankai, that strike would have severed his neck.
Only then did he see Takasugi's weapon clearly.
A bizarre armament: three crimson scythe-blades extended along a chain linked to the hilt. Its sheer size suggested a single swing could decapitate with ease.
Ginrei's gaze hardened as he studied it.
He'd underestimated him.
But.
Ginrei's eyes narrowed.
You're underestimating me, aren't you?
With that thought, he yanked his hand back, as if pulling something tangible and heavy.
In that instant, the reishi around Takasugi shifted abruptly.
The next moment, countless invisible thread-nets converged toward the center, ensnaring their prey like a spider's web.
"Thread Slash!"
Takasugi, standing motionless, was engulfed by the massive net.
Ginrei's expression lit up, a smug smile curling his lips.
If the 'Kazesenpu' compressed reishi threads to the diameter of a 'strand,' rivaling steel in toughness, then his Bankai reduced that diameter a thousandfold, amplifying toughness and hardness dozens of times over.
Even with his reiatsu suppressed by the seal, unable to unleash his full power, the nature of his Bankai remained unchanged.
He had yet to encounter a material that could withstand it head-on!
Clang!
Just as he prepared to tighten the net and tear the Soul Society's traitor apart, an unfamiliar sound rang out.
Ginrei's expression froze.
The Storm-Cutting Net, fully encasing Takasugi, dug tightly into his steel skin, leaving visible indentations.
Yet it merely indented.
The steel skin didn't tear.
Ginrei stared, a flicker of disbelief in his eyes.
Impossible!
Snap.
In that brief moment of hesitation, a faint spark erupted from Takasugi's surface.
Ginrei's body stiffened, but he reacted instantly.
It was the sound of a thread snapping.
Ignoring his shock, he thrust his hand forward.
Countless threads shot out, surging relentlessly toward Takasugi's body.
"Thread Net!"
But this time, Takasugi seemed to have found a counter. His steel skin tightened as the muscles beneath swelled like balloons.
Terrifying force, paired with rising reiatsu, surged.
The threads encircling him snapped under the sheer violence, ringing with sounds sharper than shattering porcelain. A bestial roar tore from his throat.
"RAAAGH-"
With each bellow, the net shattered completely.
Ginrei's mind blanked for a split second.
Before he could react, a whistling howl snapped him alert. He swung a thread-forged katana.
But it only deflected a flying chain.
Damn it!
The thought barely formed when a heavy tearing sensation erupted from his back.
Along with it came searing pain.
If he could turn, he'd see Gokusaiga buried deep in his back, piercing through the threads' defense.
"Bastard!"
Under the agony, Ginrei struggled to stand, trying to swing another thread-blade forward.
But as he raised his head, Takasugi's form loomed less than a meter away.
Ginrei's pupils shrank, his heartbeat skipping.
The next moment, a clawed hand eclipsed his vision.
The massive scythe, yanked from his wound by the chain, arced upward.
Aimed at his vitals!
Ginrei's body tensed.
Death.
In that instant, fear surged in Ginrei's heart for the first time.
Facing an unstoppable demise.
At that moment...
"Gagaku Kairō!"
As the hoarse voice rang out, a massive white plush orb, larger than a bear, materialized behind Takasugi.
Its enormous bulk cast a shadow, blotting out the light in their eyes.
As Takasugi turned, the plush orb opened its maw, as if to swallow him whole.
Boom!
Unable to swing its blade, the chained scythe lashed backward, while beastly hooves stomped down. Together, they braced against the massive maw that threatened to engulf Takasugi, eliciting a deep, muffled thud.
But the Gagaku Kairō's immense power didn't stop there. Its terrifying force pushed him back, his single supporting foot carving a deep furrow in the ground.
Dust billowed.
Ginrei, watching, felt his heart begin to pound again.
He looked up, dazed, at the towering figure before him.
After a long pause, his fingers clenched into a fist, reluctant.
"Utterly useless. Couldn't even buy a moment's time, could you?"
"Kuchiki brat!"
Before he could stew in the humiliation of being saved by a mere vice-captain, a scornful voice cut through from afar.
Saito hovered in midair, her blade slung over her shoulder, blood still dripping from its edge.
She looked down at him.
Behind them, a dozen host body corpses littered the ground, hacked apart or bitten to shreds, unmistakably dead.
Only a beleaguered Shunsui still grappled with the last three host bodies, but no one paid him any mind.
Saito's blade resting on her shoulder, her straw sandals tapping rhythmically, spoke with a cold smirk.
"With skills like that, you dared to steal my prey?"
"You've got a balls there."
"Next time, I won't let you off so easily."
Her words carried a mocking lilt, her tone growing flat and detached as she landed lightly before him.
She turned, her single deep-purple eye fixing on him.
A bloodthirsty grin spread across her face.
Her tongue flicked across her lips.
Her gaze burned with scarlet malice.
She hated having her prey taken.
Ginrei's eye twitched.
Before he could respond, the girl strode toward Takasugi without hesitation.
Takasugi, fully Hollowfied, strained under the Gagaku Kairō's pressure. His arm muscles bulged, raw power propping up his frame, inch by inch.
At last, he halted the massive Gagaku Kairō in its tracks.
Then, his claws gripped Gokusaiga, yanking it upward.
Boom!
In an instant, the colossal Gagaku Kairō was wrenched upward by the scythe lodged in its maw, sent tumbling.
Its heavy bulk seemed weightless in Takasugi's hands, flipping through the air before crashing down with a dull explosion.
The ground rippled with cracks.
But before he could free his hands, another towering, muscular figure appeared before him at a speed invisible to the eye.
Amid an explosive howl of air, a fist the size of a sandbag slammed into his pallid, Hollow-like face with unstoppable force.
One punch sent Takasugi spinning through the air, crashing to the ground.
Yet his reaction speed was now terrifyingly swift.
His body barely touched the earth before he rolled backward.
Another deafening blast.
Kurayashiki Ryoma appeared where he'd landed a second earlier.
A heavy punch smashed into the barren ground.
The soil shattered like layered biscuits, jutting upward as the ground sank several meters, forming a massive crater.
The shockwave whipped up everyone's hair.
Ryoma's towering frame rose, his wild, grass-like hair fluttering in the fierce wind.
He faced his former classmate, once a comrade.
His expression was solemn.
Veins bulged on his thick, calloused fists.
"Takasugi!"
"Can you hear me?"
As his voice rang out, a dozen Gagaku Kairōs encircled them like a military formation.
Takasugi, rising from the ground, looked up at Kurayashiki Ryoma.
He pulled Gokusaiga from the Gagaku Kairō's maw, gripping it tightly.
His rigid lips struggled to form a faint smile.
That calm expression alone made Ryoma feel as if a fire blazed in his chest.
"Why are you doing this?"
"You're a captain of the Gotei 13!"
"You…"
Ryoma couldn't fathom it.
Just as he couldn't understand why those who peaked as mere seated officers clung to their sliver of power after retirement, even turning into Hollows to oppose the Seireitei.
And this man, someone who'd fought alongside him since their Genji School days, who'd had his back in battle, was beyond comprehension.
"Hmph."
A low rasp, almost a laugh, escaped Takasugi's throat.
He raised his head, his black-yellow Hollow eyes meeting Ryoma's, his voice hoarse.
"Ryoma."
"I've always envied you."
Ryoma froze at those words.
Takasugi's voice didn't waver. Dragging his scythe, he walked toward Ryoma, speaking calmly.
"Someone like you, with natural talent, who reaps results just by training, sheltered by the Soul Society's greatest teacher…"
"You could never understand, could you?"
"Those who, for decades, centuries, no matter how hard they try, remain stuck at one level."
"Fools like me!"
He laughed, a self-mocking sound. "Pathetic, isn't it?"
"I'm sorry. I tried countless times to convince myself I was acting to revive the Genji School."
"But I can't lie to myself."
His smile widened, stretching his rigid face as if it might tear.
"Betraying the Seireitei, becoming a Hollow, being used as a pawn or test subject, it doesn't matter!"
"I want to be as strong as you monsters!"
"To hold life and death in my hands, to decide with a single word."
"That feeling, no matter the cost, I crave it!"
Ryoma watched the unfamiliar, grotesque smile, his expression growing colder, his eyes dimming.
Looking at his former comrade, he realized he'd never truly known him.
"You two talk too much."
Before Ryoma could respond, Saito crouched atop a Gagaku Kairō, glaring at the talkative monster with disdain.
"Since you've become a Vasto Lorde, you're ready, aren't you?"
"Ready to be cut down by me."
Takasugi sneered at her.
"You?"
"Makoto's little lackey."
That single sentence silenced both Ryoma and Saito.
Saito straightened, her silver teeth grinding audibly. Veins pulsed on her pale forehead, and a deep crimson glinted in her purple eye.
Her heavy reiatsu surged like a tidal wave, making the air quiver.
Finally, she looked up, her expression feral, snarling.
"It's decided!"
"I'm going to hack you into eighteen pieces!"
***
Bonus Chapter:
100 Power Stones = 1 BC
300 Power Stones = 2 BC
500 Power Stones = 3 BC
700 Power Stones = 4 BC
1000 Power Stones = 5 BC
***
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