"So you really… call yourself the strongest…"
Anger flared in Candice and the other two women's eyes as they each gripped the spirit bows they'd summoned.
As Sternritter, they had pride—arrogance even. They would never admit they were weaker than anyone.
But this man in front of them…
He was only an ordinary Soldat.
In terms of status, he should've been an ant they could crush at will—yet he dared to be this arrogant.
Meninas McAllon placed her index finger against her lips, smiling with a vacant, airy tone.
"Soldat-sama, you don't seriously think that just because you beat Gigi… you can look down on all Sternritter members, do you?"
Liltotto Lamperd stared coldly at Cole and spoke flatly.
"Bastard, don't get too full of yourself. Gigi isn't even a combat-type Quincy. It's normal that you beat her."
Candice picked up the thread. Wild lightning burst over her body as she said icily:
"So next, we'll show you the real power of the Sternritter. It's not something your Blood Vein and Blood Artery can compare to."
At this point, they had to admit it—Cole's modified Blood Vein and Blood Artery had already surpassed theirs.
But the reason the Sternritter were stronger than the Military Police from a thousand years ago was that Quincy power itself had fundamentally changed.
Back then, the strongest ability was Ransōtengai (Heavenly Puppet Control), and every use came with enormous side effects.
Now, the strongest powers were the Schrift and the Quincy Vollständig.
A complete evolution at the very root.
The three women rose into the air together. Different wings unfurled behind each of them as their spiritual pressure surged to its peak.
Under the rubble, inside a crack, a small black cat swallowed hard.
"Three captain-class fighters…"
Even though she trusted Cole's strength, she couldn't be sure he could defeat three terrifying female Sternritter with the Quincy power he'd only just gotten hold of.
Cole… I paid such a huge price. Don't let your identity get exposed…
Yoruichi prayed silently.
As she was thinking—
Meninas, whose wings formed a five-pointed star motif with multiple pink heart-shaped segments linked together, floated overhead. Still looking airheaded, she smiled and spoke sweetly:
"Soldat-sama, my strength is really strong too, you know. You'd better be careful—don't let me knock you out."
With that, she beat her pink wings and dove down at extreme speed.
Seeing this, Liltotto and Candice paused, watching with interest.
Among the many Schrift abilities, Meninas's was the purest.
Pure violence.
Pure brute force.
That was her Schrift.
Even as a female Quincy, Meninas's raw strength was among the greatest in the Sternritter.
"So… modified Blood Vein versus the strongest 'Power' Schrift. Which one is superior?"
The two women watched the ruins below with anticipation.
Candice even grinned at Bambietta.
"Hey, Little Bambi. Aren't you going to save your master? He might get beaten to death, you know."
Bambietta didn't look nervous at all. She swallowed lightly and stared at Cole with reverence.
"You stupid women… you don't understand my master's strength. It's the kind of overwhelming power that makes you despair."
Thinking back to what happened a few days ago still made her shiver inside.
Back then, "Cole" had bullied her until she was limp and unable to move—yet she still refused to submit.
So she activated her Quincy Vollständig and tried to kill that terrifying man.
The result…
She almost got played to death.
Candice and Liltotto's hearts jolted, and they subconsciously looked toward Meninas.
Bambietta really didn't think Meninas could win?
And in that same instant—
Meninas's punch, glowing with pink spiritual pressure, crashed head-on into Cole's left fist.
Boom!
An invisible airburst exploded outward.
It was just fist against fist—yet it kicked up a storm.
Boulders, rubble, dust, and debris were blasted away in an instant, flung hundreds of meters, turning the surrounding area into a sandstorm.
Even Quincy stationed around the castle felt the gale and began drifting over in confusion.
Back at the center of the clash—
Under the impact, Meninas—using Schrift "Power"—was forced back half a step.
Her beautiful eyes widened in surprise.
"You're amazing. To have pure strength at this level…"
Cole casually shook out his hand and smiled.
"Your strength isn't bad either. You took a punch head-on. Looks like I underestimated you a bit."
Even though he'd only infused one-tenth of his spiritual pressure into his blood vessels, his base spiritual pressure was already terrifying.
That punch was strong enough to collide with a slash from Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō.
That alone showed how monstrous Meninas's power was.
Meninas—usually wearing that vacant, airheaded look—darkened slightly.
"Um… you're really getting too arrogant."
Cole lifted an eyebrow, about to respond—
but Meninas came at him again.
So he met her head-on.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The heavy, fleshy impact of fist after fist rang like continuous thunder.
The noise shook the entire city.
Pure physical combat—violent, primitive, the kind that made blood boil and dragged out the brutality hidden in the deepest parts of the body.
Up in the sky, the two women enjoyed the show, but their shock kept rising.
This man—just with his self-created Blood Vein and Blood Artery—was actually matching Meninas at full power.
Meninas's Schrift was technically an auxiliary type. In terms of "normal" combat ability, she should've been the weakest among them.
But Meninas was different. With her Schrift "Power," she was solidly mid-tier even among the Sternritter.
Meninas grew annoyed. She jumped back and a massive pink dumbbell appeared in her hands.
"I'm getting a little mad. Be careful next—don't die, okay?"
Then she swung the dumbbell down at Cole's head.
That wasn't gentle at all.
It was a killing blow.
Cole, however, looked excited. He raised a hand toward the pink dumbbell and said cheerfully:
"Your hair and your power are both pink. That color isn't exactly 'safe.'"
Boom!
The dumbbell collided with Cole's fist.
A mountain-like force crashed down—so heavy it actually pushed Cole back a step.
Cole shook out his hand, glanced at the skin scraped off his finger and the blood seeping out, and smiled.
"And you still don't want me commenting on your pink?"
"Of course not!"
Meninas looked furious now, the airheaded sweetness gone.
"You bastard—take this seriously! My strength's increased a lot! Do you want me to smash you into meat paste?!"
With a weapon, her power had risen by nearly thirty percent.
Even though Cole blocked that strike, she felt that if she kept hammering him, after a hundred hits or so, she could kill him.
She wanted to see him go all out.
"It's just this level of injury…"
Cole sighed, and the wound on his hand had already healed.
He exhaled, clapped his hands together, and said:
"Fine. Then I'll get a little more serious—and properly see what the Sternritter's combat power looks like."
"Eh?!"
Meninas blinked, looking stupidly cute again.
"You're lying!"
"You can get even stronger?!"
In the sky, Candice and Liltotto tensed up too, eyes fixed on Cole.
Stronger?
How?
His blood vessels already contained an insane amount of spiritual power. If he increased it further, his vessels should explode.
If it wasn't Blood Vein and Blood Artery, then what else could raise him?
A Schrift?
A Quincy Vollständig?
Those weren't things an ordinary Soldat should have access to.
While the three women were on edge, Cole slowly breathed out and poured even more spiritual pressure into his blood vessels.
In an instant, the blue spiritual power lines across his body flared.
The blue glow became almost blinding.
But the women didn't even care about the light anymore—they stared at his blood vessels in horror.
"He's adding more spiritual power into his vessels!!!"
"He's insane!"
"They'll explode!"
"Arteries, veins, capillaries—everything will rupture. A human body can't handle that kind of pressure…"
They didn't dare blink.
They even stopped breathing.
The spiritual pressure packed into those vessels was so dense it made them tremble—how were those blood vessels still intact?
If that amount of power was in their bodies—
one second.
That's all it would take for every blood vessel in their bodies to burst.
Yet Cole kept increasing it, forcing unimaginable spiritual power into his blood, and still making it circulate through his body.
Meninas licked her lips and swung her pink dumbbell down again.
But this time, Cole caught it with one hand.
His fingers closed.
Meninas blinked and tried to yank the dumbbell back.
No matter how much force she used, Cole's arm was like a steel clamp—unmoving.
"Schrift… 'Power,' huh?"
Cole smiled and slowly tightened his grip.
"Looks like it's nothing special."
Crack!
The pink dumbbell shattered, reverting into spiritual particles.
Meninas's expression changed drastically. Instinctively, she tried to retreat, suddenly unwilling to keep competing on brute force.
But how could Cole let her go?
With one step, his figure appeared in front of her.
He smiled.
"Dangerous airhead lady… you should go stay underground for a while."
"Eh, don't…"
Meninas looked at him pitifully—before she could finish, her head was smashed downward.
Boom!!!
Another massive crater appeared.
The entire street shook, and thick cracks spread even farther.
At the center was yet another human-shaped pit.
"Meninas!!!"
Candice and Liltotto shouted from the sky.
No response.
Candice's eyes burned with fury as she charged straight at Cole.
"You bastard—I'll kill you!"
As she spoke, dazzling green lightning condensed in her hand, roaring like a storm—forming what looked like a green thunder spear.
The sky itself seemed dyed green as arcs of lightning danced.
Facing the wrathful "thunder goddess," Cole still looked unhurried. He thought to himself:
I wonder how Yoruichi's lightning compares to hers… purely in lightning power, this one's probably stronger.
Then, as the green lightning closed in—
Cole grabbed Candice's slender wrist and smiled.
"You're doing that 'one at a time' rescue routine. Why do you only come at me one by one?"
Violent green lightning crawled over Cole's body, almost suppressing the blue lines on his skin.
Even his black hair stood up from the electricity.
But aside from that—
he looked like he hadn't taken any damage at all.
Candice stared, dumbfounded. She glanced down at her lightning.
It was lightning, alright.
She'd used her strongest level of attack.
"Fifty billion joules of lightning… and it has no effect on you?!"
Candice couldn't help asking.
Fifty billion joules!!!
That would turn an ordinary Quincy into charcoal instantly.
But Cole looked practically immune.
Cole rolled his neck slightly, pointed at the blue spiritual lines around his neck, and smiled.
"You couldn't even break my Seikessō (Blood Vein). And now I've got spiritual power coating my body too. Did you seriously think your lightning could pierce through?"
Just now, he'd infused another one-tenth of spiritual power into his vessels.
Compared to before, his strength had more than doubled.
At this level, Candice Catnipp's lightning hurting him would be a miracle.
As he spoke, Cole grabbed Candice by the throat, swung her up, and smashed her into the ground just as brutally.
Boom!!!
The earth shook.
Another gigantic crater formed.
Now, in the sky, only Liltotto was left.
Sweat slid down her face. She hurriedly waved both hands.
"Wait, Soldat-sama! We can talk this out. There's no need to go straight to violence."
Among the Sternritter girls, she wasn't weak—but she was nowhere near Bambietta or Candice.
She was terrified that this savage man would just smash her deep into the ground too.
(End of Chapter)
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