"No, young lady, your power is very strong."
Hearing Orihime's somewhat self-deprecating words, Ichinose said seriously.
"I have heard Kyoya-sama speak of your power."
"Kyoya-sama holds a very high opinion of you."
"He said your power is one that trespasses into the domain of gods, a rejection of all phenomena."
"For example, my injuries earlier. If I were to wait for the Shinigami of the Gotei 13's 4th Division to treat me, their Kaido transforms their own Reiatsu into healing Reiatsu to restore my injuries."
"But your healing directly rejects the conceptual state of 'my arm being injured', directly restoring my arm completely, exactly as it was before being injured."
"No, I should say, under your ability, my arm was never injured at all!"
"Huh?"
Hearing Ichinose say this, Orihime blinked her large eyes, looking confused.
She did not quite understand Ichinose's words.
But the parts she did understand were undoubtedly that great figure called Kyoya held her ability in high regard.
'Was my ability really that amazing?'
"Do not doubt yourself."
"Young lady, even if you do not believe in yourself, you should believe in Kyoya-sama."
"Kyoya-sama once said that if your Reiatsu were strong enough, then even a phenomenon like death might not be something you cannot reject!"
"Reject... death?"
Orihime's pupils suddenly contracted.
When she first learned about her ability, Orihime was very happy.
She did not like fighting, but she had to fight.
Because if she did not fight, her friends would get hurt.
Later, although her combat strength could not keep up, her healing ability became the core of their small team in the Living World.
Whether it was Ichigo, Chad, or Uryu, after every battle, their injuries were treated by Orihime.
It was precisely because they had Orihime, this great healer, that the members of the Living World Team fought without fear of life and death.
However, this placed a great deal of pressure on Orihime.
She had always worried: what if one day Ichigo and the others were too severely injured, or if her treatment could not come in time? What should she do then?
Now, hearing that so-called Kyoya-sama actually said her ability could reject death, did that mean that even if she could not provide treatment in time in the future, she could still save them from death?
"Who is there?"
Just as Orihime was fantasizing about how she could reject death in the future, Ichinose shielded her behind him with one hand and shouted towards the dark alleyway.
"So that is it, no wonder Aizen-sama ordered me to bring you back."
"An ability like yours, only by Aizen-sama's side can it be put to better use."
"It is you, Tosen Kaname!"
Seeing the person who walked out of the darkness, Ichinose's expression turned grave.
"Young lady, do not look back, walk straight ahead!"
"I will hold off this guy and buy you time to escape."
Ichinose said solemnly.
If the enemy were someone else, Ichinose might not be this grave.
But Tosen... Ichinose had fought him when he stormed the Seireitei.
That battle ended unquestionably in Ichinose's crushing defeat.
Although he managed to inflict some injuries on Tosen, he was ultimately defeated by him.
Only half a month had passed. Although Ichinose's strength had improved somewhat, there was still a considerable gap compared to Tosen.
"Hold me off?"
Hearing Ichinose's words, Tosen shook his head. "It seems that previous battle gave you the illusion that you can delay me."
"But the fact is, back then, if Aizen-sama had not been ready to confront Kyoya-sama yet, I would not have killed you."
"But now..."
"A mere Fifth Seat of the 11th Division, how long do you think you can hold me off?"
Although Ichinose had once been a Lieutenant for a period, under Kyoya's leadership of the 11th Division, powerful individuals emerged one after another.
Even Ichinose had slipped from the Third Seat at one point.
By the time he left the Seireitei with Kyoya, Ichinose had fallen to the Fifth Seat.
And by that time, Tosen had already been the Captain of the 9th Division for over fifty years, so he indeed has the qualifications to look down on a Fifth Seat like Ichinose.
"I will know after I try to hold you off!"
Ichinose knew the gap in their strengths. Therefore, he did not hesitate in the slightest and directly released his Zanpakuto.
"Bankai-"
"Seiko Nijigasumi!"
Boom-
After Bankai, Ichinose did not immediately attack Tosen. Instead, he erupted his seven-colored Reiatsu, shooting it straight into the sky, causing a rainbow that pierced the heavens to appear over Karakura Town's night sky.
Tosen was blind. He only knew Ichinose had erupted Reiatsu, but he did not know what Ichinose had actually done.
However, since Ichinose had brought out his full power, Tosen naturally dared not underestimate him.
Although Tosen's words had belittled Ichinose, in battle, Tosen would not look down on him.
In their previous battle, although Tosen had also held back, he had indeed used his Bankai.
Even so, Tosen had been injured by Ichinose.
This time, Tosen naturally wanted to avoid being injured by Ichinose.
"Bankai-"
"Enma Korogi!"
Boom-
A massive barrier enveloped Ichinose and everything within a hundred-meter radius. The rainbow formed by Ichinose's Reiatsu was instantly cut off by the barrier.
"Not good!"
Hitsugaya had just finished dealing with Luppi when, to his surprise, he saw the Reiatsu emitted by Ichinose dissipate.
"Ichinose is in trouble!"
Whoosh-
Immediately, Hitsugaya's feet erupted with Reiatsu and he flew towards the place where Ichinose's Reiatsu had vanished.
Soon, Hitsugaya arrived above the barrier where Tosen and Ichinose were fighting.
Seeing the black barrier covering the area below, Hitsugaya raised the Zanpakuto in his hand high.
"Bankai… Daiguren Hyorinmaru!"
Boom-
Blue Reiatsu erupted. A pair of ice wings formed on Hitsugaya's back, and his hands were covered in ice-formed dragon claws.
The black barrier blocked Hitsugaya's vision, preventing him from sensing the situation inside.
Under such circumstances, Hitsugaya did not dare to attack the barrier lightly, fearing that his attack might break the barrier and affect Ichinose.
Therefore, Hitsugaya chose to directly use Bankai, using his perception of the water vapor inside the barrier to determine the situation within.
In Hitsugaya's perception, there were three figures inside this barrier.
Two of the figures overlapped, while the other figure was at the opposite end.
"Two figures overlapping... is that Ichinose and someone caught up in this?"
As for Tosen, Hitsugaya did not believe that someone who had defected from the Seireitei and abandoned his sense of justice would protect someone from the human world.
Of course, even if there was only a one-in-ten-thousand chance, Hitsugaya would not directly attack the solitary figure.
"Break!"
With a thought, Hitsugaya swung his Zanpakuto, condensing a large amount of surrounding water vapor into an ice slash, which he directed at Tosen's Bankai barrier.
Swish-
The blue slash flashed past. Tosen's Bankai barrier, Enma Korogi, was directly sliced in two.
The severed barrier began to dissipate into Reishi. The situation inside was immediately perceived by Hitsugaya Toshiro.
"Ichinose!"
Hitsugaya roared.
The situation inside the barrier was completely opposite to what Hitsugaya had anticipated.
The solitary figure was not Tosen, but Ichinose.
At this moment, Ichinose was lying in a pool of blood.
The two overlapping figures were Tosen and the girl named Orihime, who had gone to the Soul Society with Kurosaki Ichigo.
At this moment, Hitsugaya felt relieved that he had not actually launched a slash at the solitary figure.
Otherwise, the severely injured Ichinose would definitely have been killed by the slash he used to break the barrier.
Ice spread over Ichinose's body, freezing his injuries to prevent them from worsening.
"Tosen!"
Hitsugaya roared.
If Orihime were not so close to Tosen, Hitsugaya would probably have already attacked him.
But at this moment, Orihime was too close.
If Hitsugaya were to attack Tosen, Orihime would likely be frostbitten by the cold released by his Reiatsu.
"Is that Army Commander Hitsugaya?"
After the Ryoka incident concluded, Aizen naturally prioritized gathering intelligence on the Revolutionary Army. After all, although the Revolutionary Army was not part of the Seireitei, if Aizen wanted to overthrow the world, he would inevitably clash with them.
Therefore, Tosen also knew that Hitsugaya Toshiro was the strongest in the Revolutionary Army after Kyoya, wielding the Strongest Ice-type Zanpakuto, Hyorinmaru.
Kyoya even considered him to have the potential to reach the level of Yamamoto in the future.
Although he had defeated Ichinose by leveraging the advantage of his Zanpakuto's ability, if he were to fight Hitsugaya, the outcome would be uncertain.
Immediately, Tosen had no intention of fighting Hitsugaya. He directly opened a Garganta and stepped into it with Orihime.
'He escaped?'
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Ashido's expression was grave. He gripped his Zanpakuto with both hands, his pupils darting around to track Grimmjow's figure, swinging his Zanpakuto to clash with him.
Swish!
Grimmjow's figure appeared. The madness in his eyes made it clear at a glance that he was not an easy person to get along with.
"Not bad. Worthy of being the Shinigami who instantly killed Nakeem and Di Roy. They didn't die unjustly."
After just a few exchanges with Ashido, Grimmjow could tell Ashido's strength.
That solid foundation in the way of the sword, and the sword technique simplified to the extreme, meant solely for killing… those who did not reach a certain level of strength would only be instantly killed by Ashido.
Even Grimmjow, under Ashido's attacks, if not for his relatively fast speed, would probably already have several wounds on his body.
Regarding Grimmjow's praise, Ashido showed no expression.
During his hundreds of years in the Forest of Menos, Ashido had hunted no less than tens of thousands of Gillian-class Menos Grande.
If, at the beginning, hunting Gillian was to avenge the comrades who had come to Hueco Mundo with him... what kept Ashido going later was the belief in protecting humans.
He believed that for every additional Gillian-class Menos Grande he killed in the Forest of Menos, fewer people in the Living World might be killed by Hollows.
In fact, Ashido's actions had a significant impact on the Seireitei.
Because of Ashido's slaughter, neither the Living World nor the Soul Society saw the appearance of Menos Grande above the Gillian level for a century, leading graduates of the Shin'o Academy during that century to believe that Menos Grande were merely legendary creatures.
And Menos Grande were powerful enemies only the Royal Guard, the Zero Division, could contend with.
It must be said, the nobles of the Seireitei, in order to stifle the Gotei 13's potential, truly utilized everything to the extreme.
Perhaps these nobles believed that even if Yhwach became this world's new 'God', he would still need them to maintain the balance of the three worlds?
In the many years since Kyoya brought Ashido out of the Forest of Menos, Grimmjow was undoubtedly the most powerful Hollow he had encountered.
Not only was his Reiatsu far stronger than Ashido's, but Grimmjow's greater strengths were his speed derived from his leopard true form, his powerful fighting instincts, and his keen sense of danger.
Even though Ashido's swordsmanship could suppress Grimmjow, whenever Ashido posed a threat to him, Grimmjow could quickly evade or block.
"However, no matter what, they were my followers for hundreds of years."
"As their king, let me use your head to commemorate them!"
Saying this, Grimmjow placed his left hand over his Zanpakuto as if holding it.
"Grind-"
"Grimmjow, mission accomplished. Time to withdraw!"
Just as Grimmjow was about to perform his Resurrección, Tosen's voice reached Grimmjow's ears, causing his expression to change.
Although he knew that he and the others had come to the Living World with Tosen this time as decoys, or to disrupt the judgment of the Shinigami stationed in the Living World, so that Tosen could complete Aizen's mission...
But Grimmjow had not expected Tosen to complete the mission so quickly and order a retreat.
Although their stay in the Living World was not long, all the Hollows who came this time, except for him, had perished. Not only his Fracción, but even the Reiatsu of the Séptima Espada, Luppi Antenor, and the Octava Espada, Zommari Rureaux, had vanished.