"D-don't think you can get cocky just because you cut off my tentacles!!!" Luppi's face twisted viciously. "You know nothing about the power of my tentacles!"
"I don't know anything about this pink mist, but as for tentacles... I actually know a little." The tentacles Muten Natsu had cut off earlier ignited with karmic flames. The pale white appendages gradually changed shape within the black fire. Their tips sharpened, yet they remained flexible. Black scales grew along one side, while the other sprouted dense rows of white suckers of varying sizes. "Thanks to your help."
Spirit Weapon!
A full sixteen black tentacles attached themselves to Muten Natsu's back, twisting and extending as they absorbed his Reiatsu. They wrapped tightly around Luppi's eight tentacles, and no matter how Luppi writhed or stretched them, he could not break free from the white suckers' grip.
Unable to escape and with nowhere to retreat, Luppi opened his mouth as crimson light gathered in front of him.
Muten Natsu shifted slightly. "You know nothing about charging power."
Surging black mist turned into thick Spirit Ink and coiled around Myōki. The terrifying charge was completed in an instant. The moment Muten Natsu swung his blade, the karmic flames exploded.
The raging fire stretched into a pitch-black banner, ripping through all the air that couldn't get out of the way before Luppi could fire his Cero.
Before it even touched Luppi's body, the karmic flames, with their power to destroy the stable structure of Reishi, detonated the half-charged Cero.
Violent spiritual power burst out in chaos, forcibly tearing off the eight tentacles Muten Natsu had bound.
His tentacles severed and his Cero interrupted, Luppi was caught in the torrent of spiritual power. At that moment, he was completely unable to resist, and could only watch as the cold karmic flames closed in.
"Ah-woo..." Wonderweiss, who had not moved until now, suddenly appeared in front of Luppi. The surging karmic flames vanished in an instant. His mouth hung half-open, his expression blank, but in his eyes as he stared at Muten Natsu was a strange excitement. "Yaa..."
Before Muten Natsu could understand why the karmic flames had disappeared, he felt a gale rushing in from behind.
Yammy swung his enormous fist, using his massive body to cross the distance and smash it down in a single blow.
The black tentacles burst into flame and devoured Luppi's severed tentacles. Before Yammy's fist could reach him, the black tentacles got there first. Using their softness to disperse the force, they coiled around the huge fist.
The terrifying strength was dissolved into nothing by the flexible tentacles. Muten Natsu raised a hand and pointed.
"Bankai. Rin'en Bokukō!"
The savage Rin'en Bokukō emerged from the pitch-black sky. The usually enormous Rin'en Bokukō looked only half the size of Yammy's upper body now, because Yammy had become so huge after releasing Resurrección. The abyssal maw had only just opened when Yammy grabbed it in one hand.
Holding down Rin'en Bokukō's head, Yammy laughed like thunder. "So this is your Bankai? It's kind of cute!"
"My control is limited. Every time I use Bankai, the most I can keep stable is the head." Wisps of black smoke drifted off Muten Natsu's skull mask and vanished into the dark sky. "But if there's outside pressure to help Rin'en Bokukō maintain its stability..."
A giant hand reached out from the black sky, grabbed Yammy's broad upper body, and slammed him to the ground.
Boom!
With a deafening crash, the earth shook. The ruins of surrounding buildings were smashed apart even further and swept away by the violent wind.
The difference in size reversed instantly. Just as Yammy was about to struggle, another hand reached out from the darkness.
One in front and one behind, the two hands seized Yammy's body and tore him in half.
"Aaaaaaaaaah!!!" Yammy's howl rang through the sky as all twelve of his giant legs kept twitching.
An enormous amount of blood poured down, gathering into a river across the ground and rushing onward, only to be covered the next moment by the Spirit Ink left behind after Rin'en Bokukō collapsed.
Muten Natsu's body swayed slightly. Rin'en Bokukō's burst of power was an enormous drain on him, well beyond his normal limits.
"Wuaa..." Wonderweiss let out a meaningless sound and reached for the center of Muten Natsu's back.
Muten Natsu swung his blade in a horizontal slash, but a crisp cracking sound suddenly came from the mask on his face.
At some point, the Hell Flames burning across it had gone out.
Cracks spread across the pale skull mask, covering it in an instant before it shattered completely.
Muten Natsu's swing immediately slowed, but Wonderweiss accelerated even more at that exact moment.
Clang—!
Ink spread out, then shattered apart.
Orihime Inoue, who had been watching Muten Natsu the whole time, immediately released Shun Shun Rikka. Santen Kesshun unfolded in front of him.
Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi Shihōin closed in on Wonderweiss from behind, one from each side.
The pitch-black canopy overhead was torn open with a slit, and Grimmjow finally arrived, lunging at Muten Natsu like a mad beast.
Once again, Muten Natsu had left him behind, as if he were some insignificant extra who could be ignored whenever convenient.
That was an insult to a king.
Only Muten Natsu's blood could wash it away.
Having narrowly escaped death, Luppi ignored the wounds left by his prematurely detonated Cero and forced his remaining tentacles to regenerate rapidly. All eight twisted together and spun as they stabbed toward Muten Natsu.
Ulquiorra's Moonlight Sword reappeared in his hand, and the eerie green light shot out toward the center of Muten Natsu's collarbone.
"You people are really noisy..." Tōshirō Hitsugaya raised his Zanpakutō. "Sennen Hyōrō!"
Dense ice pillars appeared one after another, linking together and multiplying into even more, stretching out like a glacier and sealing Muten Natsu firmly inside.
The badly wounded Luppi and Grimmjow, who still had not released Resurrección, were both frozen in midair by the glacier. Even Ulquiorra's Moonlight Sword could only barely blast open a gap in it.
Wonderweiss, also sealed in the ice, let out a muffled sound. Veins bulged on his forehead as a crack appeared there, then split open.
It was actually a mouth full of black teeth.
A low voice shattered the ice pillars, and the corners of that mouth curled up.
"Found you, Muten Natsu."
Still wearing that vacant expression, Wonderweiss broke free of the ice, smashed through Santen Kesshun, and charged straight at Muten Natsu.
In his purple eyes was reflected Muten Natsu's figure, along with the Sōten Kisshun covering him.
"Some no Mai, Tsukishiro!" Rukia Kuchiki swung her Zanpakutō, sending a circle of white light soaring into the sky. The pitch-black Spirit Ink froze into ice and sealed Muten Natsu's body inside.
Under the protection of Sōten Kisshun, the shattered mask on Muten Natsu's face reappeared, and the fine cracks rapidly disappeared.
Ink flowed across the skull mask, turning into black smoke and igniting into black fire.
The Hell Flames possessed the power to destroy the stable structure of Reishi and draw strength from it, and Spirit Ink frozen into ice was far more stable than ordinary Spirit Ink.
Once destroyed, it would naturally grant Muten Natsu even greater power.