"Your abilities are very similar to mine."
High in the air, Tier Harribel looked at Shiba Kaien, who stood surrounded by surging waves, a hint of surprise flashing through her normally calm eyes.
"Is that so?" Kaien replied, his breathing uneven, blood running down his forehead. "You haven't even shown your full power yet."
"Of course," Harribel said coldly. "Because you are still too weak."
The moment her words fell, Harribel vanished.
In an instant, she appeared before Kaien, the Zanpakutō in her right hand slashing down without hesitation.
The water around Kaien surged.
A massive sphere of compressed seawater formed instinctively around him but it was split apart in a blink as Harribel's blade cleaved through it, continuing its descent.
Boom!
Kaien raised his trident to block. A thunderous shockwave erupted as he was forced back several steps through the air.
Before he could stabilize himself, Harribel disappeared again.
She reappeared behind him.
Yellow spiritual energy gathered at the center of her blade, compressing violently before erupting outward.
"Cascada."
Kaien immediately drew in the surrounding seawater, forcing it to converge into a dense barrier.
Boom!
The water shield shattered violently. Kaien was sent flying, barely managing to brace himself with his trident before crashing into the waves below.
"You're weak," Harribel said dispassionately. "I don't understand why someone like you would be chosen as my opponent. Is this what passes for a captain now?"
Kaien slowly straightened, seawater flowing around him like a living thing.
"Of course I'm a captain," he replied calmly.
He raised his trident.
"Roar wildly—Nejibana!"
The ocean responded instantly.
The surrounding waters surged upward, waves rising higher and higher until the battlefield was completely submerged beneath an endless sea.
"This is…?" Harribel narrowed her eyes slightly.
"Heaven and sea—surging tides."
Kaien's voice was low as the entire ocean tilted.
The water crashed down all at once.
A colossal torrent slammed into Harribel, smashing her into the depths as countless tons of seawater piled atop her, completely submerging her form.
"You can't withstand the weight of thousands of tons of water," Kaien said quietly.
"…Is that so?"
A figure burst upward from the sea.
Harribel rose into the air, her mask fragment completely gone. The skirt of her uniform had shortened, white armor encasing her legs, and the blade in her hand had transformed into a massive white greatsword.
"This is my Resurrección," Harribel said calmly.
"Tiburón."
She swung her arm.
A flash of golden light erupted.
"Hirviendo."
Super-compressed high-pressure water exploded forward.
Kaien raised a wall of seawater in front of him. The attack struck it head-on
and was completely blocked.
"Oh?" Harribel murmured.
"Is that all your Resurrección can do?" Kaien asked.
He swung Nejibana in a wide arc.
The ocean surged upward, forming an enormous blade of water that crashed toward Harribel.
Harribel lifted her greatsword and pointed it forward.
"La Gota."
A massive stream of water fired forth. The two torrents collided violently, collapsing into a storm of spray.
"I see now," Kaien said. "No wonder you said our abilities are similar. You generate water through your blade… but I command the sea itself."
The waves gathered again.
They twisted and compressed, forming a colossal whale-shaped mass of seawater, over a hundred meters long, which charged straight at Harribel.
Harribel calmly raised her sword.
A golden flash erupted.
The water whale was obliterated instantly, collapsing into countless raindrops.
"It's useless," Harribel said. "Any water created by my power remains under my control."
"Then you misunderstand," Kaien replied.
The raindrops halted midair.
They began to rotate.
Condensing.
Forming a massive spiraling vortex that surrounded Harribel completely.
"Sea Whirlpool."
The vortex tightened, pressure increasing exponentially as it attempted to crush her.
Harribel raised her sword.
"Catarata."
A colossal column of water erupted outward from her position, blowing apart the vortex and transforming into a towering waterspout that surged straight toward Kaien.
Kaien formed a shield of seawater in front of himself. The waterspout slammed into it, compressing the barrier again and again.
Boom.
The attack finally dissipated.
Kaien remained unharmed.
"As long as the sea exists," he said evenly, "you can't hurt me."
"But your ocean is shrinking," Harribel replied calmly. "You're converting your spiritual pressure into water at an extreme rate. Your reserves won't last forever."
Kaien said nothing.
She was right.
Even with nearly twenty years of training in the Dangai and a massive increase in spiritual power, sustaining this level of ability was pushing him to the limit.
"I don't need forever," Kaien said quietly.
"I just need long enough to defeat you."
The sea surged again.
On another battlefield
Tōshirō Hitsugaya stared at the figure before him, his expression grim.
"Why…? Why didn't it work?"
His Ice Prison had failed completely.
Barragan Louisenbairn stood unharmed, his skeletal visage looming.
"It's useless," Barragan said calmly. "All things age when they approach me. That is my power."
With that, he swung his axe again.
Hitsugaya froze the air instantly, locking Barragan mid-motion
but the ice cracked and shattered in moments as Barragan stepped free.
"As I said," Barragan continued, advancing, "everything ages."
"Then I'll freeze your ability itself."
Hitsugaya narrowed his eyes.
The ice wings on his back dissolved.
Snowflakes began to fall gently from the sky.
"…What is this?" Barragan looked up.
A single snowflake touched his body.
Flowers bloomed instantly, ice flowers spreading rapidly across him.
One.
Ten.
Fifty.
A hundred.
An enormous icicle formed as the flowers converged, freezing Barragan completely.
"Hyōten Hyakkasō."
"When the hundredth flower blooms," Hitsugaya said softly,
"the enemy is sealed in ice."
"Aging… can still be frozen."
The ice shattered.
Fragments scattered across the sky.
From within them, a massive skeletal figure emerged, black miasma pouring from his body.
"How is this possible…?" Hitsugaya whispered.
Barragan's voice echoed coldly.
"Didn't I tell you? My power is aging. Objects. Life. Spiritual pressure. Everything decays."
He extended his hand.
Black breath spread outward toward Hitsugaya.