Starrk dodged aside in a flash, grumbling, "Attacking while we're still talking? That's really..."
Before he could finish, Shunsui Kyōraku had already spun around and swung his Twin Blades. "Bushōgoma!"
The whirlwind released by the Twin Blades wrapped around Starrk's body. Shunsui Kyōraku leapt into the air, raised his katana overhead, and brought it down from above. "Takaoni!"
But Starrk raised his musket even faster and took aim...
Boom!
A dark blue torrent of Reishi roared past, piercing through the drifting clouds and bursting out with a heavy, thunderous rumble.
Shunsui Kyōraku abandoned his attack and dodged to the side. His sleeves had been torn in the strike just now, exposing his sweat-slick, hairy forearms.
"I wasn't done talking." Starrk kept his sights on Shunsui Kyōraku but did not fire. "Attacking while we're still having a conversation is just out of line. Captain, that's not how you play fair."
"Oh my. I was actually planning to take you out in one strike, so there wouldn't be anyone left to complain about it. I didn't expect you to dodge." Shunsui Kyōraku's gaze settled on the two flintlock pistols in his opponent's hands. "The guns you're holding fire Cero, right? And they don't need to charge at all."
Starrk answered honestly, "...That's right."
"Then can I assume they can fire other things too?"
"They can't."
"You're awfully honest." Shunsui Kyōraku studied his expression with an easygoing but careful gaze. "Is it really all right to just say that?"
"We've already come this far. Hiding it now doesn't mean much." Starrk scratched his head with the gun. "Besides, if I didn't say it, you'd spend ages testing me."
Shunsui Kyōraku gave a shameless little smile. "You saw right through me. Sorry, sorry. I'm from Intelligence, so it's a habit."
"Is that really all right?" Starrk reminded him. "Keeping up a habit of stalling for time while your comrades are badly wounded?"
"Of course not." Shunsui Kyōraku's smile remained calm. "Assuming they really are badly wounded."
"Hm?"
Harribel swung her sword and forced Tōshirō Hitsugaya back. "...An ice illusion?"
The Tōshirō Hitsugaya who had fallen to the ground shattered into chunks of ice. The real Tōshirō Hitsugaya raised Hyōrinmaru. "I didn't expect your attack speed and range to improve that much after your liberation. Good thing I was ready for it."
"I remember..." Harribel thrust her sword straight forward, and a surging current of water rushed toward Tōshirō Hitsugaya with her attack. "That move can only be used once."
Tōshirō Hitsugaya swung his katana and froze the water. The cold surged back along the current, turning it into solid ice that clung to Harribel's shoulder. "But for someone like me, with an ice-and-snow Zanpakutō, freezing water into ice is something I can do as many times as I want."
Harribel swung her sword and shattered the ice. "So what?"
"It means all your attacks become my attacks!" Tōshirō Hitsugaya swung his katana, unleashing an ice dragon at Harribel. "Don't underestimate a Captain's strength!"
"You're the one underestimating me." Harribel raised her sword. "Hirviendo."
The approaching ice dragon instantly melted into water and obediently coiled around Harribel's body.
"If you could think of my water becoming your ice, you should have thought of your ice becoming my water as well." Harribel brought her sword down. "Cascada!"
A torrent far more violent than before crashed down from the sky, striking Tōshirō Hitsugaya and blooming into a massive ice flower.
Tōshirō Hitsugaya controlled the ice flower and split it apart, then swung his katana to release a flurry of ice spikes. Gunchō Tsurara!
"Hirviendo."
Harribel used the same move again, turning the ice spikes into water and gathering the current behind her...
No!
Tōshirō Hitsugaya reached Harribel's back one step ahead of her. As she gathered the water, he turned it into ice and released it.
Water spilled from the shark-gill patterns on her greatsword. Harribel turned and thrust straight forward, sending water surging from the blade toward Tōshirō Hitsugaya. La Gota!
Tōshirō Hitsugaya raised his katana to block, and the water turned into blooming ice flowers in front of him.
The air burst again and again as Harribel fired several La Gotas in an instant, sending them one after another at Tōshirō Hitsugaya.
Ice flowers bloomed in front of Tōshirō Hitsugaya, blocking his vision.
A yellow flash suddenly burst out, tearing through the ice flowers as it closed in.
Caught off guard, Tōshirō Hitsugaya dodged aside, but one of the ice dragon wings on his back was still severed.
"Tsk... Using a petty trick like that." Tōshirō Hitsugaya glanced at the broken ice dragon wing behind him. "Forget it. I've reached my limit anyway."
Harribel turned her wrist, and the shark-gill patterns on her greatsword began drawing moisture from the air.
As the battle continued, the humidity in the air kept rising.
Once it reached a certain point, Harribel's attacks would undergo a qualitative change in power.
Then she would be able to finish Tōshirō Hitsugaya for real.
She simply hadn't expected Tōshirō Hitsugaya to reach his limit so soon.
"I know you're waiting for the humidity to rise. After all, I fight with water too." Tōshirō Hitsugaya took a deep breath. "But compared with waiting, I prefer other methods."
Harribel sensed the change in Tōshirō Hitsugaya's Reiatsu, as if some heavy burden had been lifted from him. "What did you do?"
"The weather today... is very clear." Tōshirō Hitsugaya looked up at the cloudless blue sky. "But I've reached my limit. I can't keep suppressing Hyōrinmaru's power any longer."
In the next instant, dark clouds churned across the clear sky. As the second ice flower floating behind Tōshirō Hitsugaya vanished, the heavy clouds seemed about to fall from the heavens.
"What is this..." Harribel stared in disbelief at the sky, which had darkened in an instant. "What is it?"
"Tensō Jūrin. It may only be Hyōrinmaru's most basic ability, but it is also its most powerful." Tōshirō Hitsugaya raised his katana. "I haven't fully mastered this power yet, so I can only hold it back for a short time. But the longer I suppress it, the more power gathers in the sky. Eventually, it turns into this."
A streak of pure white light suddenly appeared in the dark sky. Then the white light poured down, carrying a chill that sank into the bones.
It was... snow.
Endless snow and ice, falling like an avalanche.
Harribel raised her greatsword. "Hirvi..."
Snowflakes landed on the greatsword with a clear ring, and ice flowers bloomed across the blade.
Then a second bloomed on Harribel's shoulder. A third on her chest. A fourth, a fifth... Crystal-clear ice flowers bloomed one after another, encasing Harribel.
"What is this..." Harribel broke free of the ice flowers, but in the next instant, even more bloomed.
"Hyōten Hyakkasō." Tōshirō Hitsugaya slowly exhaled a breath of white mist. "The moment the snow touches you, it freezes into a flower. When one hundred flowers have bloomed, your life will come to an end."