Tuumba fared slightly better, as he managed to wrap himself in a cocoon woven from spider silk.
Although the white silk cocoon was eventually blown apart by the sword's energy, five out of his eight spider legs were broken.
Blood gushed continuously from his mouth, and purple flames burned on his body.
But at least he managed to save his head.
As for the giant scorpion Kadavil, he had already disappeared by that point.
Arata could no longer sense his spiritual pressure, he had perhaps already fled underground.
"Monster, monster…" Tuumba's voice trembled as he panicked and backed away, his eyes full of fear as he looked at Arata.
It was as terrifying as the first time he was defeated by Baraggan.
Arata stuck to his principle that weeds should be cut down to the root, never leaving future problems behind.
He activated what little spiritual pressure he had left and, in a blink, appeared in front of Tuumba.
Facing the opponent's desperate gaze, Arata swung his sword expressionlessly.
Shhh!
Meigetsu in his hand sliced the spider's body in half as easily as slicing a vegetable.
All life vanished.
Two Adjuchas dispersed into spiritual particles, which gathered into Meigetsu's blade, transforming into nourishment for the flame burning on it.
In fact, every time Arata used Moon Feast, it consumed part of Meigetsu's power.
The intensity of the purple flame rose proportionally to its strength.
The only way to replenish it was by killing enemies and absorbing their spiritual particles as compensation.
The spiritual particles of the two Adjuchas were enough to restore it from zero to one hundred.
However, the spiritual pressure that Arata himself had spent could not be recovered so easily.
"Hah…"
Arata knelt on one knee, with Meigetsu deeply stabbed into the sand, leaning on it to stay upright.
With a single attack of such magnitude, even with spiritual pressure close to captain level, the consumption was immense.
The spiritual pressure in his body had almost dropped to its lowest point, and he felt a pulsating pain in his temples.
"System."
He called out in his mind, and the transparent panel immediately appeared in front of him, he located the System Mall.
[B-rank item: High Concentration Spiritual Pressure Essence]
[Effect: Quickly restores depleted spiritual pressure. With prolonged use, it can increase the amount and quality of spiritual pressure up to the upper limit of second-class spiritual power.]
[Note: Can be gifted, cannot be upgraded]
[Exchange condition: 1000 destiny points/bottle]
[Confirm exchange?]
As his fingertips hovered above the confirmation button, a slight tremor in the sand beneath him suddenly put him on alert.
Meigetsu in its sheath let out a sharp, piercing sound, and purple-black flames flared uncontrollably from the hilt.
"Underground?!"
At the moment the thought passed through his mind, three dark green cold flashes tore through the sand from below!
Kadavil's mangled body burst out of the sandstorm. The three scorpion tails, which were supposed to be severed earlier, were now whole again, and the poison gathering at the stingers was even denser than before.
That's high-speed regeneration!
Arata felt a trace of regret, he had actually forgotten about that Adjuchas ability.
"Die, Shinigami!"
"Three Poisons Kill!"
No, too close!
Arata could even see the tri-colored, bubbling layer on the surface of the poison, and the breath of death splashed across his face.
He twisted his exhausted body as much as he could to avoid vital spots, but the three scorpion tails still stabbed deep into his left shoulder, right side, and thigh.
The cold poison surged through his veins, and his vision instantly tinted with a strange purple-green hue.
"Kh…"
Blood mixed with black foam dripped from the corners of his mouth, and he felt a sharp pain throughout his brain and body, like being bitten by thousands of ants.
Kadavil burst into laughter and began to twist the scorpion tails in his body, injecting even more poison.
"My scorpion tail is fused with a special poison from Lord Szayelaporro. Even if your captain were here…"
His voice suddenly stopped.
A pillar of purple-black flame pierced the sky, and the blade of the Dark Moon Blade exploded with unprecedented light.
"Dark Flame Slash!"
A crescent-shaped blade energy flew horizontally, and Kadavil's astonished face was forever frozen in the cracked mask.
The high-speed regeneration he was so proud of had no effect this time.
Purple flames savagely corroded along the severed cross-section, burning him to ash little by little.
Only when he was sure that the last of Kadavil's spiritual particles had been absorbed by Meigetsu did Arata finally collapse to his knees.
The intense toxin corroded his consciousness, black mist began to appear at the edges of his vision, and even a bony-white substance began spreading across the surface of his body.
With great effort, he forced himself to press the exchange button in the system, and a vial of azure-blue spiritual pressure essence rolled into the sand the moment it appeared in his palm.
"Master! Hold on!" Meigetsu's worried voice echoed in his mind.
However, Arata was no longer able to respond.
His vision became blurrier, and his consciousness slowly sank into darkness.
…
On the battlefield near the camp.
The battle between Kenpachi Zaraki and Ggio had also reached an intense stage.
Kenpachi's white haori was already in tatters, and his body was covered in wounds from tiger claws.
But his smile was becoming increasingly wild, and the fighting spirit in his eyes was almost tangible.
"Not bad, big kitty! Much better than those small scraps earlier!"
"Shut up, you arrogant Shinigami!" Ggio roared in fury, and the golden markings on his tiger-striped body shone with a blinding light. "Watch my true power!"
His body suddenly expanded, and the two sharp claws on his paws extended to half a meter, each gleaming with metallic light.
Ggio's speed doubled in an instant, he turned into a golden lightning bolt charging at Kenpachi.
Sharp tiger claws tore through the air, producing a piercing screech.
"Right on time!"
Kenpachi didn't even think of dodging; he raised his jagged sword to take the attack head-on.
Two immense forces collided with a deafening crash.
When the dust cleared, Ggio was horrified to realize that his full-force attack had been stopped with a single hand.
Even more terrifying, Kenpachi's other hand had already grabbed his front limb at some point.
"Got you." Kenpachi flashed a bloody smile and suddenly flexed his arm muscles.
Crack!
With a horrifying sound of bones breaking, Ggio's front leg snapped.
With a painful roar, he stabbed his other claw toward Kenpachi's face in a panicked counterattack.
"Too slow."
Kenpachi tilted his head slightly to dodge the attack without even blinking, and without hesitation plunged his long sword into Ggio's stomach, then pulled upward.
Shhh!
A massive wound opened down his abdomen, and intestines and blood poured out in torrents. He staggered back several steps, the light in his eyes fading quickly.
"No… impossible… how could I…?"
"Boring. Even when I hold back my strength like this, I can kill you easily." Kenpachi shook the blood from his sword and turned to look for his next target.
"Who else wants to die?"
With Ggio's fall, the morale of the Hollow group completely collapsed.
Seeing that things had gone catastrophically wrong, Abirama immediately shouted the order to retreat.
"Full retreat!"
Even if Lord Baraggan punished him later, he didn't care.
If he didn't retreat now, he'd die here!
The remaining Adjuchas immediately stopped fighting and, as if pardoned, fled into the distance.
Ordinary Hollows fell into total chaos, trampling over each other as they panicked and fled the battlefield.
"Hmph! You think you can escape?" Soi-Fong shouted and the next moment used Shunpo to chase after them at full speed.
Every time her silhouette flickered, a bee tattoo mark appeared on a Hollow.
Whether it was an ordinary Hollow or an Adjuchas, none escaped the fate of being killed in two strikes.
At that moment, a red-haired figure wearing a mask suddenly appeared in front of the fleeing group of Hollows.
"You can't escape."
He drew his Zanpakutō from his belt and instantly swung, launching dozens of pale air-blade slashes.