"Captain Kuchiki is really as impatient as ever!"
Soi Fon shook her head, then without wasting another second, activated her Bankai. Her Zanpakuto shifted into the golden finger guard fitted over her index finger, the Shikai form known as Suzumebachi.
"Everyone, fall back!"
With that single order to her squad members, Soi Fon vanished in a Flash Step and closed the distance to the Adjuchas-class Hollows in an instant.
Toshiro Hitsugaya moved at the same time, his ice wings catching the light as he shot toward the Hollows.
Ryūjin moved with them.
By the time he reached the battlefield, the other captains were already deep in it.
Clang!
A blade ripped through the air trailing savage spiritual energy, the kind of pressure that made the space around it groan. Kenpachi was swinging wild and hard at the Hollow ahead of him.
Whoosh!
The Hollow was faster than it had any right to be. It twisted out of the way at the last second, clean.
That got a grin out of Kenpachi. And a raised brow.
Clang!
Kenpachi's real strength sat in Hakuda, and missing once barely registered as a problem. He shifted his angle mid-motion and came around with a second strike before the first had fully landed.
The Adjuchas had no room to dodge this time, and it didn't bother trying. It raised its claws and blocked.
"Seeking death!"
Something cold and sharp entered Kenpachi's eyes. He pushed more force into the swing, enough to take the arm clean off at the joint.
Except that's not what happened.
Thud.
The blade hit the arm and stopped. Buried in it. Not through it.
Kenpachi's pupils tightened. His Zanpakuto was stuck.
How hard was this thing's Hierro?
Whoosh!
The Hollow moved the second it felt Kenpachi freeze. Its free claw came around fast, raking toward him while he was still pulling his blade loose.
He got the Zanpakuto free, but the motion cost him. The claw connected with his shoulder and the force behind it was enormous, sending him stumbling back several steps before he planted his feet.
"What!"
"That's an Adjuchas-class Hollow!"
The squad members watching from a distance had gone completely still. That was Captain Kenpachi. Top-tier strength across the entire Gotei 13, and he'd been pushed back inside of a minute.
And there were eight of these things.
In fairness, Kenpachi had gone in blind. He hadn't known the Hierro was that dense, and now that he did, his approach would shift. He wasn't the type to repeat the same mistake.
But that didn't change the fact that these Hollows were a real problem.
Soi Fon and Toshiro Hitsugaya weren't having an easier time. The Adjuchas' Hierro was in a different class compared to ordinary Hollows, and that gap made most standard attacks useless. Techniques that carried genuine destructive output were barely leaving marks.
Soi Fon's Nigeki Kessatsu was the exception. That ability didn't care how tough the skin was. Two hits in the same spot and it was over, full stop. But landing twice on the exact same location against an Adjuchas moving at that speed was another matter entirely.
And that was one-on-one. The captains were managing multiple Hollows at the same time.
"Chidori Nagashi!"
Ryūjin hit the battlefield and didn't slow down. Lightning release chakra surged through his body the moment he arrived.
Crackle. Crackle.
In the sky above, enormous bolts of lightning coiled and condensed, each one as thick as a forearm, weaving between each other before dropping.
The flash was blinding. Everyone within range had to look away.
When the light cleared, the eight Adjuchas-class Hollows that had been pushing back three captains were gone. Already beginning to dissolve into spiritual particles.
Ryūjin had killed all of them with one technique.
The battlefield went silent.
The squad members stared. Nobody moved. Captain Uchiha Ryūjin had wiped out a group of Hollows that strong in a single strike, and they were having trouble processing it. They knew he ranked at the top among the captains, but knowing it and watching it were two separate things.
"With Captain Ryūjin here, we don't even need to worry." Soi Fon let out a short breath, the corner of her mouth pulling into a small smile.
Toshiro Hitsugaya said nothing. He put his Zanpakuto away and left it at that.
"Uchiha Ryūjin." Kenpachi's voice was flat with irritation. "You're a real buzzkill. Stay out of my fights."
Ryūjin didn't respond to that.
His brow had already drawn together, eyes fixed on where the Hollows had been. The spiritual particles were finishing their scatter, the last of the Hollows fading out.
Then they stopped fading.
The surrounding spiritual energy of Hueco Mundo began pulling inward, rushing toward the spots where the Hollows had died. It happened fast, the particles gathering and compressing, shapes forming.
Eight Adjuchas stood before them again.
Not new ones. The spiritual pressure was identical. These were the same Hollows that had just been destroyed.
They had come back.
"What is this?"
"How did they revive?"
"That's not possible!"
No one on the battlefield had a frame of reference for what they were seeing. It had never happened before.
===
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