Because Tousen Kaname was blind, he could not see the changes in Masco's appearance. But through his spiritual sense, he could clearly feel the difference. Masco's reiatsu, which had been weakening under Enma Kōrogi, suddenly swelled with force, heavy and oppressive.
"The last resistance?" Kaname murmured calmly.
He was not surprised. Even an ant would struggle at the edge of death—how much more so a Sternritter? Masco was no ant. His strength, especially when empowered by James' cheer, had been formidable.
But Kaname had also noticed something the moment he activated Bankai. When Masco was dragged into the barrier, his power dropped drastically, as though part of him had been cut away.
Tousen Kaname, former captain of the Gotei 13, knew this better than anyone. Blindness had forced him into sharper awareness. To rise from a sightless boy to captain of the Ninth Division had required more than talent—it demanded precision, calculation, and above all, a heart that could read beyond what eyes could see. Where others relied on vision, he relied on instinct, sound, pressure, and the subtlest vibrations of spirit.
Now, he understood what had happened.
"That man… could it be his strength is bound to the support of others? And because of my barrier, his source of power has been isolated?"
The realization steadied Kaname's resolve. Even with Masco's Vollständig opened, Kaname remained cautious, but the rhythm of the fight was already tipping in his favor.
Masco, however, did not know any of this.
His senses of sight, sound, smell, and even spiritual perception remained gone. Not even the Vollständig restored them. In the void of Enma Kōrogi, he was still blind to his opponent.
But he refused to despair.
"So what if I can't see you? You're still here! And if I can't target you directly, then I'll crush your world instead!"
Beating his radiant reishi wings, Masco rose into the air, spiritual energy gathering at the glowing belt across his torso. He couldn't sense the flow of reishi with precision anymore, so he simply poured it all in, guided by instinct and raw emotion.
"Star Beam – Supernova!"
*Boom!!*
The pentagram of light burst forth, expanding rapidly, carving through the suffocating black with violent radiance. For a brief instant, the barrier was illuminated, the oppressive silence pushed back by sheer force. But the darkness returned just as quickly, swallowing everything.
Masco still could not see.
The suppression of Enma Kōrogi was not mere darkness. It was domination of the senses themselves, an ability in the same category as Aizen's Kyōka Suigetsu. Vision, hearing, smell, even spiritual awareness—Kaname erased them all, replacing reality with emptiness.
*Boom!*
Masco's attack struck the ground, pulverizing stone and sending shockwaves ripping outward. The barrier trembled violently, and Kaname had to step aside to avoid the core blast. Cracks rippled through the floor, and the shockwave slammed against the walls of the barrier.
Kaname's Bankai was powerful, but its range was not infinite. Compared to Mazuru's Bankai barrier—which once encompassed nearly all of Hueco Mundo—Enma Kōrogi was small and fragile. Its power lay not in durability, but in sensory domination.
Kaname knew this weakness better than anyone. He also knew that if Masco managed to batter through the barrier's walls, his Bankai would collapse, leaving him exposed.
He remembered well: back in the Menos Forest, Tsunayashiro Tokinada had done just that—unleashing a wide-range destructive attack to smash through Enma Kōrogi. That memory had haunted him, pushing him to seek greater power.
But that was before.
Now, after embracing hollowfication, his sword was no longer just a Zanpakutō. It was also a hollow's Resurrección. He had experimented relentlessly, fusing both forces until they became one. Like the Visored, like Kurosaki Ichigo, he had learned to wield hollow power within Bankai.
The answer was clear: yes, he could strengthen Enma Kōrogi with his hollow powers.
So when Masco's "Supernova" threatened to shatter the barrier's walls, Kaname reacted instantly. Gripping Suzumushi, he invoked its hollow-infused release.
"Suzumushi Hyakushi – Grillar Grillo!"
Reiatsu roared out of him, hollow power detonating. Kaname's body twisted and transformed, reshaping into a monstrous cricket-like hollow. The surge of his release flooded directly into Enma Kōrogi, reinforcing its fabric, hardening its structure until the cracks sealed and the trembling stilled.
Masco's attack fizzled into nothing against the revitalized barrier.
*Boom, boom, boom!*
The echoes faded, replaced by silence once more.
Kaname stood changed, his human form gone. He towered as a grotesque cricket-shaped hollow, with compound eyes glowing faintly in the dark. For the first time in years, he could see.
His gaze settled on Masco's winged figure, and he smirked faintly.
"So this is your so-called holy form? Ridiculous. You are truly… ugly."
It was a cruel jest. In truth, Masco's form wasn't grotesque—certainly not compared to Kaname's monstrous appearance in battle. But to Kaname, the self-styled "superhero" was nothing more than a clown dressed in stars.
And with sight restored, Kaname no longer needed to hold back.
"Suzumushi Hyakushi – Grillar Grillo!"
"Los Nueve Aspectos!" (Spanish for "The Nine Aspects", Japanese for "Nine Aspects Ringed-Kill")
His reiatsu surged, transforming into invisible waves of vibration. The soundless sound shot forward, a barrage of high-frequency waves invisible to the eye but devastating to the body.
Masco, suspended in the air, still couldn't see, couldn't hear. He thought the barrier had survived because Kaname was hiding somewhere inside it. That was fine, he told himself. He only had to unleash another attack and smash everything apart.
But before he could gather energy, something struck him.
*Thud!*
The shock ran through his chest, shaking his internal organs violently. Blood gushed from his mouth in a scarlet spray.
He barely had time to understand—his very insides were being shaken apart by invisible sound.
*****
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