Amamiya Miyako, guided by the faint, familiar thread of Ishida Uryū's spiritual pressure, arrived at the base of a towering spire only to find his path blocked by a sealed, massive door.
Without hesitation, he summoned his Quincy Cross. A Heilig Bogen materialized in his hand. Instead of a normal arrow, he poured his will into the weapon, using Reishi Manipulation to force the ambient particles to coalesce into a single, monstrous projectile. The arrow swelled, becoming thicker than his own arm, glowing with condensed power.
He released it.
KABOOOOM!
The giant arrow obliterated the sealed door in a shower of splintered stone and dust, the blast echoing through the chamber within.
The sudden explosion startled both occupants. Szayelaporro Granz whirled around, fury twisting his features. "Who dares?!"
Ishida Uryū, battered and bleeding from his futile attempts to evade the Espada without his powers, glanced toward the new opening with wary hope.
Through the settling dust stepped a figure in a black cloak, the hood drawn low, obscuring their face. Only their masculine build was discernible.
"You! Identify yourself!" Szayelaporro demanded.
Amamiya ignored him. His senses, honed in the crucible of Ryūken's training room, immediately detected the abnormality in the air. 'The Reishi here… it's been artificially altered. Resonant frequencies shifted. No wonder Uryū's helpless.' He glanced at the Quincy, noting the gas mask on his face. 'He learned some caution from Kurotsuchi. But not enough. You never fight a researcher on their prepared ground.'
Reaching into his cloak, Amamiya produced several unused Silber tubes.
"How dare you ignore me—!" Szayelaporro's eye twitched, his anger mounting.
Amamiya moved with practiced speed. He uncorked four tubes simultaneously. A torrent of pure, untainted Reishi spilled forth into the altered atmosphere.
"Silber…?!" Uryū recognized the Quincy tools, but what happened next stunned him.
In one fluid motion, Amamiya reformed his Spirit Bow, now feeding it directly from the released Silber Reishi. He aimed it not at the Espada, but at the ceiling high above.
"Licht Regen." (Rain of Light)
A storm of razor-sharp Reishi arrows, born from the Silber's energy, screamed upward.
Szayelaporro realized the intent too late. "NO!" He flash-stepped forward in a burst of Sonído, but he was a researcher, not a frontline brawler; his speed was inadequate.
The Rain of Light shredded the upper structure of the tower. With a deafening roar, the roof was torn open. Sunlight, pure and unfiltered, flooded the chamber, and with it came a rush of normal, unaltered Hueco Mundo Reishi.
The carefully crafted 'cage' of manipulated particles collapsed.
"Damn you…!" Szayelaporro snarled, blocked by falling debris.
Uryū felt his connection to spiritual particles snap back into focus. He used Hirenkyaku to deftly evade the collapsing rubble.
In the new sunlight, Szayelaporro's furious face was fully visible. "You… who are you?!"
"Just a passing Quincy," Amamiya replied, his voice deliberately altered to a low, rough rasp.
His prized specimen slipping away enraged Szayelaporro. But seeing this new Quincy also wield their race's power, his anger cooled into predatory fascination. "No matter. Your identity is irrelevant. What matters is that you are also a Quincy. Now I have two exquisite specimens!"
He drew his Zanpakutō, Fornicarás, a smile returning to his lips.
Amamiya used Hirenkyaku to appear soundlessly beside Uryū. "Are you Ryūken… or Amamiya?" Uryū whispered, eyeing the cloaked figure.
"You always get into trouble with the scientist types, don't you, Uryū?" Amamiya murmured back in his normal voice, laced with familiar exasperation.
"…It is you." Uryū felt a mix of relief and annoyance. Rukia had said he'd come.
"Quiet. They don't know I'm here yet, thanks to this." He tapped his cloak, which perfectly masked his unique Shinigami-Quincy hybrid signature.
"Why the secrecy?"
"Because our goal isn't to conquer this place in a head-on fight. We're here to find Inoue and Tatsuki and extract them. Stealth is our ally." Amamiya's logic was cold and practical.
Uryū, his intelligence sharp, understood immediately and nodded.
Amamiya then pulled several more Silber tubes from within his cloak and pressed them into Uryū's hands. "You grew complacent, Uryū. The dense Reishi here made you arrogant. A traditional Quincy always carries reserves. If you'd had these filled, you wouldn't be in this state."
The criticism stung because it was true. He had empty Silber tubes. The abundant ambient energy had made them seem unnecessary. He'd forgotten the first rule of facing an unknown enemy: prepare for your strengths to be turned against you.
"You're insufferable," Uryū grumbled, his face dark, but his hands closed firmly around the proffered tubes. The lesson was learned.
"To chatter at a time like this… I see I'm being taken quite lightly," Szayelaporro murmured, a low chuckle escaping him as he lowered his head. "Very well. Let's conclude this quickly."
Initially, he'd hoped to let his subordinates handle a powerless Quincy. But this cloaked newcomer exuded a disquieting aura. Decisively, he opted for his full power. "Drink, Fornicarás!"
He raised his Zanpakutō, pointed the tip at his mouth, and… swallowed the entire blade.
Uryū stared, aghast. 'Are all scientists this… grotesque?' Mayuri Kurotsuchi and now this Espada—their powers were uniquely unsettling.
Amamiya, however, had no intention of spectating politely. The moment Szayelaporro began his release, Amamiya's Spirit Bow was already drawn. A Heilig Pfeil screamed toward the transforming Espada.
Szayelaporro's body bloated rapidly. The arrow struck him square in the chest… and his form violently exploded in a cloud of smoke and viscera-like fluid.
"Hey! What did you—?!" Uryū was stunned by Amamiya's ruthless interruption.
"Uryū, you're still too honorable. There's no 'fair play' with an enemy. Strike first. And besides…" Amamiya's gaze remained fixed on the dissipating smoke. "…he's fine."
As the cloud cleared, Szayelaporro's Resurrección was complete. His lower body had become a mass of writhing tentacles that solidified into new, slender legs. Broad, feathered wings sprouted from his back, dotted with strange, sac-like appendages. He glanced at a superficial cut on his arm from the arrow.
"Attacking during a release… how uncouth."
"Uryū," Amamiya instructed calmly, "do not let any of his attacks touch you. You understand the… creativity of a researcher's methods."
"Yeah… I know." This time, Uryū offered no argument. The aura radiating from the released Szayelaporro was profoundly unnatural.
"Also, watch how I use Hirenkyaku from now on. The Reishi here is dense. Its application isn't limited to what you learned in the Human World."
Uryū was puzzled. Was there more to the Quincy high-speed movement technique?
"A prudent assessment," Szayelaporro sneered, raising a hand. "But can you truly evade everything?!"
Black, viscous fluid erupted from the sacs on his wings, arcing toward the two Quincies in a torrent.
Amamiya knew this fluid—Gabriel—could spawn near-perfect clones. He doubted they replicated strength and skill at 100%, but overwhelming numbers would be a problem.
He and Uryū became blurs of motion, Hirenkyaku carrying them across the chamber in erratic, high-speed patterns. With the tower open and Reishi abundant, their movements were fluid and effortless. Szayelaporro's initial volley of fluid splattered harmlessly against walls and floor.
"Tch… That damned Quincy footwork. The ambient density here works in their favor." In a sealed, controlled environment, he had countless counters. Here, he was forced to adapt.
He gestured sharply. The spilled fluid on the ground rippled, then launched back into the air under his telekinetic control, splitting into dozens of smaller, faster projectiles that homed in on the dodging figures.
Uryū weaved across the ground, but his eyes widened as he saw Amamiya suddenly cease his lateral dodges. Instead, Amamiya was hovering. A visible platform of condensed Reishi shimmered beneath his feet, holding him aloft.
'Is this… what he meant?' Uryū hadn't considered it. In the Human World, Hirenkyaku was about gathering sparse Reishi for explosive, ground-based bursts. But here, with energy so thick, you could sculpt it. You could create sustained platforms. The three-dimensional battlefield just expanded exponentially.
A quick learner, Uryū focused his will. Seconds later, his own feet left the ground, a disc of solid air forming beneath him. The sky was now his domain, making Szayelaporro's ground-splatter attacks far less effective.
Seeing both Quincies now airborne and evading with ease, Szayelaporro's irritation grew.
What Uryū didn't expect next was Amamiya's sudden, deliberate descent. The Quincy landed squarely back on the broken floor, stopping all evasive movement. A wave of the controlled black fluid immediately altered course, streaking directly toward the stationary target.
"IDIOT! What are you doing?!" Uryū shouted from above, his heart lurching. Had he gotten overconfident?