Chapter 192: A Genuine Conversation—The Two Traitors in Aizen's Shadow
Time returned to the present reality. Tessai Tsukabishi swallowed hard, cold sweat dripping down his face uncontrollably. He rose slowly to his feet, pressing his hands tightly together. After pondering for a moment, he addressed Fiander: "You... why are you... still alive?!"
"Are you certain you want to know, Tessai Tsukabishi?"
Fiander understood that the man before him must be aware of what Urahara Kisuke had attempted to do to him. Otherwise, he wouldn't be displaying such a panicked expression. Clearly, the fact that Fiander had survived exceeded all reasonable expectations.
"That's... no longer important. What matters now is... what do you intend to do, Your Excellency?"
After the initial shock subsided, Tessai Tsukabishi gradually regained his composure. Since the Arrancar standing before him had managed to survive spatial fracturing, he would undoubtedly seek retribution against the instigator behind such measures.
Hearing Tessai Tsukabishi's words, Fiander closed his eyes without answering. He simply took a deep breath, and the surrounding spirit particles were absorbed into Fiander's body at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Several seconds later, a blue light bloomed across Fiander's wounds. After a brief moment, the injuries covering Fiander's body gradually healed, returning to their original appearance. This ability to absorb massive quantities of spirit particles for self-healing represented Fiander's unique combination of the Quincy's Blut Vene and the Menos Grande's High-Speed Regeneration.
If Urahara Kisuke knew that despite all his painstaking efforts, he hadn't managed to inflict even a single lasting injury on Fiander, he would probably cough up blood from sheer frustration.
Watching Fiander absorb spirit particles—observing the blue lines appearing along his neck like luminous veins before fading away—Tessai Tsukabishi already understood in his heart exactly what kind of monster he currently faced.
"What do I want to do?"
Suddenly, Fiander slowly opened his profound eyes. The glacier-white pupils released a suffocating chill. Simply meeting his gaze would make one feel trembling from the very depths of their soul.
"You could actually try activating your technique to see whether you can escape."
Observing the subtle movements of Tessai Tsukabishi's tightly clenched hands, Fiander sneered and spoke with complete indifference.
"This is bad! It's already too late!"
"Forbidden Technique: Spatial Trans—"
Seeing his intentions discovered, Tessai Tsukabishi no longer hesitated. He immediately raised his hands, intending to employ a Forbidden Technique to teleport himself away.
However, the instant Tessai Tsukabishi raised his hands, his body flew backward uncontrollably, as though struck by tremendous force.
BOOM!
After crashing through several houses in succession, Tessai Tsukabishi barely managed to stop. At that moment, Fiander had already materialized at the position where Tessai had stood moments before, one arm raised and maintaining the posture of having thrown a punch.
Looking at the figure of Tessai Tsukabishi flying through the air, Fiander first crushed the sunglasses left behind on the spot beneath his foot. Then, slashing through a space spanning hundreds of meters, he tore open a spatial rift, slowly extended his hand inside, and violently pulled.
SNAP!
Tessai Tsukabishi, who had been hundreds of meters distant, was dragged back through the spatial crack by Fiander once more. However, at this moment, Tessai's entire body was covered in blood, and nearly one-third of his face had collapsed inward.
His body was riddled with countless minor wounds, as though he'd been scraped by innumerable fragments. His entire form appeared as though it had rolled through pools of blood before being retrieved.
"Cough! Hack!"
Tessai Tsukabishi, who'd been dragged back again, curled up on the rooftop, his body trembling and convulsing. Being pulled through a spatial crack by bare hands—if one's body wasn't properly protected during this process, the misfortune of passing through the dimensional rift would result in being torn apart by the spatial storms.
"Finished running?"
Fiander stepped on Tessai Tsukabishi's head and spoke in an icy tone. "Things were fine before, weren't they? I didn't provoke Urahara Kisuke. Even when facing Soul Society's Shinigami, I maintained a lenient attitude."
"After all... you're all my 'acquaintances.' I didn't want to make things overly hostile. It would be best if everyone could coexist peacefully."
"But why couldn't you obey? Why did you have to provoke me over and over again?!"
As he spoke, Fiander's tone grew increasingly dark. His entire expression became ghastly. A gust of frigid wind struck, and the building beneath his feet became instantly covered in ice, exhaling crystalline chill.
"You... you outsider!"
Tessai Tsukabishi turned his head with tremendous difficulty, staring fixedly at Fiander, blood pooling in his eye sockets. "You shouldn't exist here. For the stability of the Three Realms, you... you must be—"
BOOM!
Before Tessai Tsukabishi could finish his final sentence, an enraged Fiander stomped down on his head. Then the surrounding cold instantly invaded Tessai Tsukabishi's body. An ice sculpture manifested in an instant. Finally, Fiander leaped from the rooftop and landed on the ground. After violent trembling shook the structure behind him, the entire floor collapsed.
CRASH!
A generation's Chief of the Kidō Corps, the great Kidō master, fell in this world—not even his bones remained.
"Shall I ask you to come out now?"
At this moment, Fiander suddenly spoke as though addressing himself.
Several seconds later, a figure slowly emerged from a nearby alley. With a smile on his face, he covered his injured arm with one hand, looked at Fiander's cold expression that seemed capable of freezing water, and said with a grin, "Oh my! You're becoming stronger and stronger, Fiander!"
"A Kidō master like Tessai Tsukabishi couldn't even last a single exchange against you!"
Looking at Ichimaru Gin's smiling face, Fiander wasn't in the mood to maintain any pretenses with the other party. He turned his head and looked directly at him. "Ichimaru Gin, what is your purpose?"
Seeing Fiander staring at him so directly, Ichimaru Gin's entire body tensed. His iconic smiling expression vanished. His eyes opened slightly as he spoke with perfect calm: "What's this? You really don't plan to hide it anymore? I thought you'd always maintain that act!"
"Oh? You mean to say you've seen through me?" Fiander responded casually.
"From the very first moment we met, I knew exactly what kind of person you are!"
Ichimaru Gin slowly extended two fingers and pointed. "I've known since the moment you called Captain Aizen your lord in Las Noches two hundred years ago, when you were still a Vasto Lorde-class Menos Grande!"
At this moment, Fiander walked slowly toward Ichimaru Gin, brought his head close to the other's ear, and whispered, "In that case, why didn't you expose me?"
"What do you think?"
Ichimaru Gin showed no fear whatsoever of Fiander, who had just effortlessly killed the Chief of the Kidō Corps. Instead, he responded with a meaningful smile.
Hearing Ichimaru Gin's answer, Fiander placed his hand on the other's shoulder and said with a smile, "From this perspective, Aizen has truly failed. After hundreds of years of planning, aside from Tōsen Kaname—that stubborn fool—everyone else turned out to be traitors, didn't they?"
"Traitors? What does that mean?"
Unfamiliar with this particular terminology, Ichimaru Gin asked with puzzlement.
"It means... someone who betrays their master!"
Fiander's eyes widened as he stared at Ichimaru Gin with profound intensity.
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