The voice carried both arrogance and wild defiance, making Shin instinctively look up.
What met his gaze was a pair of piercing, crystal-blue eyes, framed by hair whipping violently in the wind. The man's lips split into a feral grin, revealing a predator's intent, and from his lean frame extended claws as sharp and merciless as a hunting leopard's.
Shin's nerves tensed, his eyes narrowing to slits.
Because the uninvited guest looming above him was none other than the legendary Sexta Espada, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez.
Grimmjow descended with a rush of violent wind, his figure crashing down from the heavens. One clawed hand tore the air apart, aiming to cleave straight into Shin's skull.
It was the first time Shin had stood face-to-face with an Espada.
Yet even more shocking than Grimmjow's ferocious presence was the overwhelming spiritual pressure pouring off him.
Thick, suffocating.
Untamed, reckless.
Though Espada ranked only one level above the fracción, the gap in actual power was so vast it felt like a different dimension altogether.
The air itself stiffened, his vision narrowing as the pressure constricted all around him.
Even with his stance anchored firm, Shin felt the invisible weight hammering down, slowly nailing him into the sand. His breaths came shallow, each inhalation dragged by the crushing force.
But despair never took hold. Grimmjow's power was monstrous, yes, but not impossible to resist.
Grinding his teeth, Shin willed the command through his mind: System, activate [Resonance]!
[Activation successful. [Resonance] property engaged.]
Resonance, the phenomenon in which any object, including living beings, when struck at their natural frequency, suffers violent amplification of vibration, leading to catastrophic internal damage.
Shin's [Resonance] allowed him to detect a target's innate frequency, then replicate it through his own reiryoku and the surrounding medium, forcing the enemy's body into destructive harmonic vibration.
A weapon of inner collapse.
Of course, Shin had considered using something more straightforward, like [Reishi Sword] or [Pillar Cero]. But Grimmjow wielded a Zanpakutō, and on top of that he had Gran Rey Cero, the perfect counters to both. To meet power with power would have been suicide.
Decision made, Shin let his spiritual pressure surge.
Like a tidal wave, it rose against Grimmjow's descending force.
Two oceans of reiryoku collided in midair, forming a distorted hemispherical barrier between them.
In sheer strength, Grimmjow was far superior. Shin had no hope of winning that contest head-on.
But strength wasn't the point, texture was.
The vibration of Shin's spiritual pressure produced sharp, grating echoes, an irritating dissonance that pierced the air.
Even from afar, the fracción flinched, their minds clouded with sudden unease.
Grimmjow himself felt it too, a prickling sense of imminent danger.
But retreat? Not in his nature. Riding the momentum of his fall, he drove his clawed hand straight through.
With a thunderous crack, their palms met.
The impact blasted sand outward in choking waves.
All of this unfolded in mere seconds.
The fracción barely had time to blink. Only Shawlong managed to shout a warning: "Grimmjow-sama, that blow will kill him!"
But the fight wasn't so simple.
Shin's [Resonance] had already taken hold.
Like needles slipping between cracks, the synchronized vibrations of air and spirit particles wormed their way into Grimmjow's body. His entire frame began to tremble, inside and out, each vibration tuned closer and closer to his core frequency, the frequency most likely to tear him apart.
It wasn't pain that struck Grimmjow, but something worse. His body felt as if it were unraveling, his mind scattering into fragments.
The realization hit him instantly, this was no ordinary strike.
Snarling, Grimmjow withdrew, twisting his arm and using Shin's own momentum to hurl himself backward.
His figure streaked through the air before landing heavily beside his fracción.
"Che." His gaze locked on Shin, the fire in his eyes undimmed. Were it not for Aizen's orders, this encounter would already have become a battle to the death.
Shawlong quickly stepped forward. "Grimmjow-sama, I didn't expect you to come personally. Your attack just now nearly killed him!"
Clearly, Grimmjow's arrival had not been part of their plan.
But Grimmjow gave him no reply. His attention was fixed on his right arm.
Though the vibrations had faded, the lingering numbness and weakness refused to disappear.
Infuriatingly, he couldn't make sense of what Shin had done.
As for Shin, he had survived the clash, but it hadn't been easy. His lower leg had been driven deep into the sand under the weight of that pressure, and pulling it free took effort.
Still, his voice stayed steady: "Truly surprising… that even an Espada would show up in person."
Grimmjow's grin widened. "So you're not completely ignorant after all." Then, his tone turned sharp. "Let's get straight to the point. Those three companions of yours, they really are in our hands."
✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦
Support me by adding this fic into your library!
150 P.S = 1 Extra Chapter