Pernida, the 'Left Arm of the Soul King', could release its nerves outside its body. It could also warp any living or non-living thing its nerve tentacles touched.
Therefore, its fighting style was to attack enemies with those external nerves.
However, today it met a Shinigami whose body was unaffected by its 'compulsory execution' ability.
Pernida's nerve tentacles lashed out, but were easily blocked by Mayuri Kurotsuchi.
The skin that blocked the nerve tentacles shed a layer of twisted, warped skin cells.
"It seems you have no new tricks. Your attack method is so simple."
Mayuri cackled strangely.
He had modified his body. His skin now had a special outer layer that could constantly regenerate and shed.
After touching Pernida's nerves, that outer layer would automatically fall off, preventing the warping ability from reaching his body.
He also modified his feet to automatically use Hirenkyaku.
This allowed him to fly freely in the high-Reishi environment of the Wandenreich, avoiding the nerve tentacles seeping into the ground.
Mayuri's mockery angered Pernida. It formed a Reishi bow and Heilig Pfeil (Holy Arrows) on its giant fingertips.
It could inject its nerves into the Heilig Pfeil. If pierced by such an arrow, the victim would also be affected by the nerve ability.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—
Mayuri used Hirenkyaku to calmly dodge the rain of arrows.
However, Pernida could control the arrows with its nerves. After Mayuri dodged them, they looped back and continued to chase him.
As Pernida kept firing, more and more arrows filled the air. Mayuri's space to move was shrinking.
"Heh. Such a reckless move..."
Mayuri grinned, took a bottle of green liquid from his sleeve, and threw it into the air.
The arrows instantly shot the bottle, blowing it up.
When the bottle exploded, a green mist spread in the air, covering all the Heilig Pfeil.
The next moment, all the arrows covered in the mist fell to the ground.
Not only that, but the exposed nerve tentacles also turned black on contact with the mist. The black nerves soon crumbled to dust.
"Relying on nerves to use your abilities makes you too easy to target. I just need to make some drugs that destroy nerves, and I can kill your nerves."
When Pernida saw the mist spreading, it quickly thought of a counter.
The giant arm slammed the ground. The resulting shockwave blew the surrounding green mist away.
"I heard you can also split and regenerate. Why don't you let me see where your limit is?"
Mayuri took out a modified bomb and fired it like a slingshot.
The bomb stuck to Pernida's finger and exploded.
BOOM—!
A finger fell to the ground.
But that finger quickly swelled and grew into a new arm.
Two giant arms, over ten meters tall, stood before Mayuri.
The two giant hands clapped at Mayuri at the same time, trying to swat him like a mosquito.
"Even after splitting, you have no new tricks."
Mayuri shook his head in disappointment. He used Hirenkyaku to easily dodge the clap.
"Ah!"
Pernida, the 'Left Arm of the Soul King', saw that it couldn't do anything to Mayuri, and its anger grew.
It grabbed a few of its fingers and actually broke them off.
The broken fingers quickly split and grew into new, giant hands.
After doing this several times, there were now seven giant arms in front of Mayuri.
The seven giant arms fired Heilig Pfeil at the same time. In an instant, dozens of arrows shot toward Mayuri.
These arrows were not connected to nerves, so Mayuri's nerve-destroying drug couldn't stop them.
"You're just increasing the numbers. The attack pattern hasn't fundamentally changed."
Mayuri pinched the baby-faced hilt of his Zanpakutō. "Bankai! Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō!"
A giant, golden creature appeared. It had the head of a baby, huge gray eyes, and a steel halo on its head. Its body was a pillar-like caterpillar.
Mayuri's Bankai was a rare, biological type.
After the baby-creature appeared, it blocked the incoming arrows.
"Eee—!!!"
The baby-creature let out a piercing wail as it blocked the arrow rain.
Green mist puffed out from the wounds that opened on its body.
"To capture you alive, I went to some trouble and made a few small improvements to Ashisogi Jizō."
After Mayuri heard Pernida was the Left Arm of the Soul King, he had no intention of killing it.
He wanted to capture the Left Arm of the Soul King alive!
The green mist spread to the seven giant arms. Their skin quickly lost moisture and withered.
"What is... this... How... can't... move..."
Pernida and its clones moved slower and slower. Even their speech slowed down.
"Oh-ho-ho-ho— The poison mist from Ashisogi Jizō now erodes your skin, allowing a nerve-paralyzing agent to soak into your body."
Mayuri cackled as he explained.
The purple mist (from his Bankai) also covered him, but he was not affected.
Mayuri walked forward and injected the Pernidas with a high-concentration of the nerve-paralyzing agent.
Boom—
The Pernidas fell to the ground.
The six arms that had split off instantly disintegrated into Reishi.
"Only one is left... It seems the split arms were just maintained by Reishi."
Mayuri looked disappointed, but capturing the 'Left Arm of the Soul King' alive made the trip worthwhile.
After subduing Pernida, Mayuri took out a giant cylinder. He put the paralyzed Pernida inside and filled it with the paralyzing agent.
"The others' fights seem to be ending. I'll go check Yhwach's throne room. Maybe I can capture the King of the Quincy alive."
Mayuri sensed the status of the others and looked toward Silbern in the distance.
Although he had studied many Quincy, and even mastered some of their Reishi technology, he had never studied the King of the Quincy.
At this thought, Mayuri couldn't hold back his desire. He immediately set off, flying toward Silbern.
...
Silbern, the Throne Room.
Sternritter Grandmaster, Haschwalth, came before the throne alone.
"Your Majesty, the Shinigami have defeated the team led by Gremmy."
Haschwalth kneeled.
The King of the Quincy, Yhwach, sat on the throne. He opened his eyes and said calmly:
"I know. They have already returned to my side."
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