"Sennen Hyōrō (Thousand-Year Ice Prison)!!!"
The shout rang out.
Cold surged.
Hands wrapped around the hilt of the Zanpakutō Hyōrinmaru.
Hitsugaya Tōshirō's eyes sharpened, and his aura burst.
"Boom—!!!"
White freezing reiatsu billowed.
Wave after wave poured out of Hitsugaya's body, whipping his captain's haori into the air.
In the very first instant,
all moisture in the air crystallized, a wide wash of white light flaring into being,
pushing the battlefield's climate even further toward deep winter.
And—
before the target could process any of it,
cold condensed around Luppi at terrifying speed.
In a single blink,
towering ice pillars thrust up one after another,
linking like a cage and sealing every path of retreat.
"Damn it…"
"Shinigami… don't think you can pin me down that easily!!!"
"I'm an Espada. How could I possibly lose!"
His mouth kept barking.
But on camera, the panic on his face was obvious.
Worse,
in his Resurrección—those massive octopus-like tendrils sprouting from his back—
they weren't weapons here at all.
Cramped and trapped,
they became dead weight, smothered by racing frost that climbed at visible speed until—
finally!
His entire body was sealed.
A statue under killing winter.
—
"That's it?"
"The Espada… really are garbage."
"This 'Luppi' is even worse than that black-skinned Arrancar from last time. Pathetic…"
Squad 11.
Zaraki Kenpachi frowned, pure disgust on his face.
At first,
when the clip began
and Luppi's rank turned out higher than Zommari's,
Kenpachi had actually gotten excited.
He didn't think Luppi would be any real threat, but at least it should've been a decent fight, right?
Instead…
the result was a letdown.
Luppi's strength was paper-thin.
Barely on screen and already one-shotted.
Boring. A buzzkill. It grated on Kenpachi.
"Yeah…" Madarame Ikkaku nodded, disappointed. "If that's the level of an 'Espada,' Hueco Mundo as a whole is weaker than the rumors."
As a fighter,
Ikkaku didn't like running others down.
But two Arrancar in a row, instantly flattened—
it made him wonder if Hueco Mundo's reputation had been blown out of proportion.
Hollows, as a group,
looked weak. Very weak.
—
Elsewhere.
Urahara Shop.
"Not bad, not bad…"
Urahara Kisuke flicked his folding fan, smiling. "As expected of the strongest ice-type Zanpakutō. Hyōrinmaru… did not disappoint."
Even as he spoke,
he could feel it:
the frost seeping out of the translucent screen, still leaking into the room.
If the last round with Senbonzakura was visual spectacle,
then Hyōrinmaru
was more like pure magic damage—
a true, physical chill the audience could feel while watching.
That was what pleased Kisuke most.
"So young, yet the live-combat performance is this strong."
"Looks like, in the future, as Tōshirō grows and develops Hyōrinmaru further,"
"his power will multiply. No wonder he ranks ninth."
Yoruichi folded her arms.
The skintight suit traced a perfect silhouette even without effort.
But the third in the room,
the big, broad Tessai, for once got meticulous and raised a doubt: "Hold it—before we praise too fast. Shopkeeper, Yoruichi—can't you feel it? This 'Luppi' is basically Gillian-class."
"Hm?"
The reminder clicked.
Kisuke nodded immediately. "Right. Gillian is the lowest tier of Menos. Even Arrancarized, there's a ceiling."
"Which means this fight doesn't fully convince anyone about Hyōrinmaru's ceiling!!!"
Everyone knew it:
Menos classes by strength—Gillian, Adjuchas, Vasto Lorde.
Gillian are common,
countless in Hueco Mundo.
No wonder Tessai questioned the sample.
A foe like that
doesn't really showcase the true upper bound of Hyōrinmaru.
After all,
in the previous round,
Byakuya's opponent as an Espada—Zommari—was Adjuchas-class. No one would call him weak.
By comparison,
the persuasion here did lack something.
Blame Luppi for being too weak.
But—
as Kisuke's words fell,
the screen shifted again.
A hard jump.
This time,
not Karakura's outskirts, but… the dense high-rises of downtown.
"?!"
"That's… where we live!"
At Karakura High,
Kurosaki Ichigo frowned, concern written across his face.
What's going on…
the battle spilling into the city center?
Did this mean, in the future, Karakura—maybe the entire Human World—would be hit by a large-scale Arrancar incursion?
That was not good news.
"Yeah…"
"For Karakura, that'd be a disaster."
Asano Keigo looked up,
staring at the black clouds and rime-frozen streets on screen,
a shiver running through him.
He didn't dare think any further.
And then—
from the video,
Tōshirō's voice came again, the tone he used when facing a serious foe:
"Arrancar…"
"With power at your level,"
"you're only ranked third among the Espada?"
Shock.
Wariness.
Clear caution.
Just from the voice,
everyone could picture the expression—stern and tightly focused.
The camera slid.
It fixed on the figure across from Tōshirō and revealed a striking silhouette.
Short golden hair.
Green eyes.
Sun-browned skin like wheat.
And in hand,
a massive broad-blade etched with shark-teeth patterns.
The moment the shot landed,
Hueco Mundo—Las Noches—erupted.
Arrancar needed only a glance before they shouted:
"That's—"
"Oi! Harribel!!!"
"So the next opponent is finally one of the top three Espada?"
"Now there shouldn't be any doubt about the outcome, right?"
Still,
amid the excitement,
plenty of Hollows wore odd looks and muttered:
"Come to think of it…"
"First that androgynous Luppi. Now Harribel-sama…"
"Does this brat only fight women?!"
(End of Chapter)
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