"Shinsō!!"
Gin's face changed. His zanpakuto could extend up to one hundred times its length—hence the nickname "Hyappon-sashi (Hundred-Length Thrust)." Its speed rivaled lightning—and speed was power. With both speed and power stacked, there was little Shinsō couldn't pierce.
And yet a single, detached beam—a Cero—had nearly shattered the blade's edge.
He snapped Shinsō back. Fine cracks spidered along the silver edge, threatening to splinter at any moment. With a flick of his wrist, Gin sheathed it and whipped out a strip of white cloth.
"Senpaku Byakujya (Thousand-Turn White Serpent)!"
The cloth spun like a cyclone, cocooning him—
—and in the instant the Cero arrived, Gin vanished from within the whirling white.
BOOOOOOM—
A black-crimson half-dome of devastation billowed out, swallowing buildings by the score. Anything caught inside turned to ash within seconds. Slower Hollows simply disintegrated.
Cole lowered his right index finger and eyed Gin, who reappeared far off. "You've got plenty of weird tricks, Gin. How about fighting me straight for once?"
That was the trouble with Shinigami: Hollows had a handful of staples—Cero, sonido, hierro, high-speed regen—easy to count on fingers. Shinigami? Zanpakuto abilities, endless kido, and a grab bag of oddities that were a pain to predict.
Gin exhaled and smiled thinly. "In the end, such things don't matter. Against absolute power, every trick is useless."
Cole nodded. When raw force reigns, ten arts bow to one blow. No amount of flair would let Gin take Yamamoto's Zanka no Tachi head-on.
"If I unlock bankai, even if I can't match the old man's Zanka no Tachi, I should at least brush against Senjumaru's tier…" Heat flashed in his eyes. He couldn't wait to drink Hueco Mundo's reishi dry and awaken his own bankai. One swing then might punt Gin eight hundred li away.
"Cole!"
"Orihime!"
Inside the dimming gold, Tatsuki hugged the golden staff, eyes shining with relief. However godlike or demonic he looked, she'd know Cole anywhere.
"Tatsuki." Cole's expression softened. "Scared you, huh?"
At his voice, the tears broke. "Cole, I was so scared…"
Dragged to Hueco Mundo—the malice alone could freeze your lungs, never mind the barrage of attacks. All she'd had was the golden glow from his zanpakuto to cling to.
"Then come with me."
He stepped toward her.
Watching the two chat so casually, the Espada's faces soured. Arrogant didn't even begin to cover it.
Nnoitra's eyes boiled. Four scythes lifted as he bellowed, "Hey, Shinigami—don't get cocky! You think you can just steal that human woman from me!?"
Cole regarded him with mild interest. "So what—are you going to stop me?"
Across Hueco Mundo there were one or two Cole bothered to respect. Nnoitra wasn't on the list.
Rage snapped. Nnoitra lunged. "I'LL KILL YOU!"
Four crescent blades scissored for Cole's neck, aiming to carve him to eight pieces in a blink.
"Cole-kun!" Orihime clutched him tight.
Cole smiled. And at the instant of contact, he tapped his toe.
"Sonído (Sound Step)."
He vanished.
Steel kissed nothing. Nnoitra's blades crossed—air only.
"Where!?" His eyes whipped around, hunting the Shinigami who'd disappeared—
The other Arrancar went stiff. Lilynette lifted a trembling finger at his back. "Uh… behind you…"
Nnoitra's pupils pinpricked. He started to turn—
—and felt a cool, slender fingertip settle over the exact point of his heart.
"The Fourth Espada is a bit careless," Cole murmured.
A black-crimson star flared.
The beam cored through Nnoitra's chest and blasted him away.
CRRAAASH—
He plowed through pillar after white pillar, pulverizing stone before skidding to a halt hundreds of meters off—bloodied, coughing scarlet, staring in disbelief.
"Your… speed…"
He hadn't even registered when Cole appeared behind him. So fast it slipped past his search grid.
Cole only sighed, withdrawing his finger. "As expected of the Fourth—you shifted the target at the last instant. Turned a heart-shot into a chest-graze."
Nnoitra spat more blood. Fourth Espada. Adjuchas-class Arrancar. And the brat treated him like roadside trash?
"A strong one," Tier Harribel judged, eyes grave as her hand settled on her hilt. She outranked Nnoitra, sure—but not enough to put him down that easily, let alone kill. Cole and Nnoitra had barely touched—and Nnoitra had nearly lost his heart.
Cole strode for Tatsuki again.
"That's far enough." Harribel's voice cooled. "This is Las Noches—home of Hollows. Not a place for a human Shinigami to run wild."
She drew—and golden, wrathful pressure rolled off her.
"Seito—Kōkō-ō! (Subjugate—Empress Shark!)"
Her blade did not vanish like Yammy's or Ulquiorra's. A clamshell deluge roared into being, oceanic rage thundering as vast waters wrapped her form. When the wave fell away, her sword had become a chalk-white, shark-gill-crested greatsword. Water crowned at her feet—tsunami-high rivers birthing from barren stone.
One point of the blade traced a line—
—and the earth split. Water geysered up, turning kilometers of plaza into a floodplain. The awe rivaled Ulquiorra's black-winged demon—ocean fury, pitiless and absolute.
Nnoitra scowled, unwilling to admit it. He despised females—but Harribel outclassed him. She had carved her rank—Tres Espada—by force. In release, her waters were wilder than any sea.
Cole paused, head tilting. "You command water… so why is your hair gold? Wouldn't sky-blue fit the theme better?"
A faint crease formed between Harribel's brows. She leveled the white shark-gill sword. "Don't know what you're babbling about. Die."
"Shaku Kairyū! (Scorching Sea Current!)"
The point flashed—
—and a superheated torrent screamed out. 374.3°C—the critical temperature of water. Beyond that, supercritical—white steam billowed in pure sheets, a blank wall of devouring mist from Cole's view.
He sighed. "What a pity…"
If he weren't holding Orihime, he'd wade in for a steam bath. With hierro, it would feel like a sauna.
He raised his right palm; a tiny cyclone budded there.
"Hadō #58: Tenran (Heaven-Rending Tempest)!"
The baby storm bloomed into a towering twister, scooping sea and steam up a thousand meters.
Before Harribel could counter, Cole flickered—black light crossing the flooded court.
Her eyes narrowed. She snapped the sword horizontal—water surged.
"Suiren-jō (Water Chain Castle)!"
A ring of deep-blue walls rose, wrapping her tight. The laminar flow was tough enough to shrug ten of Nnoitra's Ceros.
She exhaled—then Cole appeared before the watery bastions, smiling.
"Hadō #78: Zanharen (Severing Flower Wheel)!"
White light flashed—
—and the rolling water split cleanly in two.
Harribel's pupils blew wide. She started to lift the blade again—
Cole didn't let her.
Black-crimson reiatsu flooded his fist. He hammered down.
THUD—
Air burst. Her chest caved; stars popped behind her eyes as her body cratered into the tiles, gouging a pit tens of meters wide.
"Kh… kh…!" Harribel hacked blood, struggling—failing—to stand.
Up on his throne of bone, Barraggan finally stirred. He'd watched like a king, eyes half-lidded. But Tres had fallen in a breath. He was Dos—only a step above. If Cole flattened Harribel so easily… even the "king of Hueco Mundo" might be an even match at best.
He slitted his eyes at the gathered Arrancar and rumbled, "What are you waiting for? Will you let a Shinigami do as he pleases here?"
Faces hardened. A warning—from the former king. And truthfully, many were already itching.
Szayelaporro's tongue wet his lips as he devoured Cole with his gaze. "A perfect body… a Vasto Lorde born from a Shinigami, wielding every Hollow trait… exquisite…"
He laughed, drawing his blade.
"Nomihoshinasai—Jabera! (Drink Deep—Decadent Consort!)"
Release.
His handsome face twisted monstrous; lower body frothed into tendrils that formed legs and ragged hems, four wings unfurled, irised paint circled his eyes—an overgrown, nightmarish butterfly.
Beside him, Zommari clasped his hands.
"Shizumare—Sōgyō Sōja! (Be Still—Monk of Cursed Eyes!)"
In an instant, black sigils crawled over his face and jaw; his lower body ballooned into a peach-hued gourd that hovered above the ground, fifty eyes blooming across him—sickening to behold.
Around them, unrecruited Arrancar bellowed and unsheathed.
"Kirisake—Gokoku-Ō! (Sever—Five-Nation King!)"
"Fuse—Gakai-shi! (Prostrate—Tooth-Armored Warrior!)"
"Fumetsu—Kyōzō-hei! (Crush—Giant Elephant Trooper!)"
"Ikiwo Suu—Kyōwan Kujira! (Breathe—Titan-Armed Whale!)"
"Midare—Tōryū-dan! (Etch Upon Water—Blade-Flow Sever!)"
"Ute—Kōsenjū! (Behead Him—Sky-War Eagle!)"
"Kagayake—Kyūtei Bara-en no Utsukushiki Joō! (Shine—Queen of the Courtly Rose Garden!)"
Release calls rose one atop another.
Tatsuki, Orihime—and even Cole—stared for a beat.
"You've got to be kidding…"
Before release, they'd at least looked vaguely human—clearly intelligent. After? Pure monsters. A hundred-meter whale brute. A fur-matted berserker ape. A boar with tusks like lances.
It was like jabbing a hive of nightmares. Each uglier than the last—malice molded into flesh, demons straight out of hell.
The two girls shook against him.
Cole palmed his forehead. "Did I stumble into a monster zoo?"
The whale-man, towering like a bipedal leviathan, thundered in and hurled a fist the size of a house.
"Kill him!!"
The pack howled and swarmed.
(End of Chapter)
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