"Her combat sense is quite good. She knows how to use her advantages."
On the stone mountain, Sora nodded slightly.
Harribel's water shield was both offensive and defensive. If Nelliel only used swordsmanship, it would be quite difficult to deal with.
Thump, thump, thump—
Nelliel's figure flashed through the air, constantly using Sonído to dodge the incoming streams of water.
But these streams didn't just dissipate after missing their target; they remained under Harribel's control.
After Nelliel dodged, the streams would turn in mid-air and continue to pursue her.
Unable to dodge them all, Nelliel had to raise her sword to block.
However, once she was hit by one stream, the other dozen followed in quick succession.
The heavy water constantly hammered against her blade. After blocking seven streams, Nelliel's arm went numb from the shock.
Her blocking speed slowed by a fraction.
A stream of water instantly broke through her defense and struck her body.
The remaining streams swarmed in.
Bam, bam, bam, bam—
In the end, Nelliel was pushed back by the water and crashed into a stone mountain.
BOOM—!
The mountain collapsed, and dust filled the air.
Sora and the trio of animal-like Menos had to find a new spot to watch.
The direction Nelliel had been pushed was towards the very mountain they had just been standing on.
"This move still lacks some power, limited by her spiritual pressure. If she could release hundreds of water pillars, she could crush an opponent with sheer volume," Sora looked at the dust cloud. He could sense that Nelliel's spiritual pressure was unchanged.
Harribel's fighting style was clever for a Hollow, especially since the ability to control water was rare for them.
Without a system to learn from, Harribel had to start from scratch. To have reached this level was already quite impressive.
However, "water-type Zanpakutō" were common among Shinigami, and their development of water control abilities was far more advanced than Harribel's.
Just then, a stream of light burst through the dust in the air and shot towards Harribel.
The stream of light was fast, but Harribel had no intention of dodging.
Under her control, a large portion of her water shield branched off, forming a water dragon.
The dragon flew out from the shield and swallowed the incoming stream of light.
But this stream of light was a blade of spiritual pressure that Nelliel had compressed to the absolute limit of her control!
Although the water dragon was infused with Harribel's spiritual pressure, its condensation level was far from that of the light blade.
The next moment, the stream of light burst out from within the water dragon.
Harribel's expression changed, and she quickly used Sonído to dodge.
Thump—
The stream of light passed through several stone mountains as if they offered no resistance at all.
Harribel looked at the mountains with lingering fear. Fortunately, Nelliel had been knocked far away, and the water dragon had slowed the attack. Otherwise, it would have been very difficult for her to dodge.
If that attack had hit a vital point, it would have been enough to seriously injure her.
Thump—
The faint sound of a drumbeat from behind her was almost in sync with her own heartbeat.
Nelliel's blade pierced through the water shield, thrusting towards Harribel.
Sonído: Shungeki!
Shungeki was not a move that required Shunpo, but rather one that focused power into an instantaneous burst.
After learning how to use a blade of spiritual pressure, the penetrating power of Shungeki increased several times over.
The blade, coated in spiritual pressure, struck Harribel's left shoulder, instantly shattering the shoulder guard.
Squish—
Before the pain could catch up to her, Harribel swung her sword in a counter-attack.
Looking up, she saw that Nelliel's figure had already vanished.
Bright red blood dripped from the giant shark-tooth sword.
Harribel had seized the fleeting opportunity to counter.
The sleeve of Nelliel's academy uniform had been torn open, and a bloody gash was left on her right side.
Harribel remained silent. She raised her giant sword, and a Cero began to gather at its tip.
"It's finally here..." Nelliel whispered.
Her professor had said that she might be able to learn that move by clashing her blade against a powerful Cero and feeling the impact.
Nelliel sheathed her sword. She was going to cut Harribel's Cero!
Two breaths later, the Cero shot towards Nelliel.
At the same time, another stream of light rose from her scabbard.
Zzzzzzzzt—
The stream of light collided with the powerful Cero.
This time, she couldn't cut through it directly.
The Shark Queen's Cero was several times stronger than the Panther King's!
Perhaps due to her water-control talent, Harribel's Cero also carried a hint of the weight of an ocean wave.
Nelliel clenched her teeth, trying hard to maintain the blade of light, but it still couldn't break through the heavy Cero.
"What is that move?! It can actually block Lady Harribel's Cero!"
In the air, the trio of animal-like Menos was astonished.
From the spiritual pressure fluctuations alone, the stream of light was much weaker than the Cero.
Yet Nelliel was holding back the much more power-consuming Cero with so little spiritual pressure.
"Doesn't more spiritual pressure mean a stronger move?"
The Snake Hollow felt its worldview being reshaped.
They had never undergone systematic training, and their use of spiritual pressure was still at a very rudimentary level.
On the battlefield, Harribel felt it even more deeply.
"My Cero was blocked... It's that move again. Why does it have so much power with so little spiritual pressure?"
Harribel thought back to her own experience.
She had felt the blade of spiritual pressure with her own body just now. The Shungeki's blade was also highly compressed spiritual pressure.
"A difference in the condensation of spiritual pressure?"
A flash of inspiration struck Harribel. She felt as if she had glimpsed the secret, but it was still veiled.
Meanwhile, Nelliel was also carefully feeling the sensation of the blade of light colliding with the Cero.
"This is it..."
Spiritual pressure surged within Nelliel's body, gathering towards her hand. Through her Hollow instincts, she transformed the spiritual pressure into another form.
The hand holding the hilt of her sword began to glow with a faint pink light.
Nelliel was releasing a Cero!
The Cero intertwined with the stream of light. The pink glow spread rapidly, soon dyeing the blade of light completely pink.
Ryūkō: Cero!
Harribel's expression changed drastically. She immediately sensed a terrifying threat. After the stream of light turned pink, the situation had changed in an instant.
Zzzzzzzzt—
The pink blade of spiritual pressure cut through Harribel's Cero and arrived swiftly in front of her.
"I'm going to die!"
The thought flashed through Harribel's mind, followed by a sudden memory of the first time she had made friends in Hueco Mundo.
The next moment, the pink blade of light stopped right in front of her face.
Harribel felt its power directly, and her back was soon drenched in a cold sweat.
"I lose."
Harribel took a breath and sheathed her giant sword.
"I did it!" Nelliel suddenly appeared beside her professor, jumped up, and hung on him. "I successfully combined a Cero with 'Ryūkō'!"
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