Perhaps Kōe, having released his Bankai, had truly transformed into a vengeful Hannya spirit at this moment. Even Kuruyashiki Kenpachi wouldn't dare take that Reiryoku slash head-on with his bare body, yet Kōe had actually shattered it with a headbutt!
Immediately after, his speed increased rather than decreased as he charged toward Azashiro Sōya. The loose black robes fluttered in the wind, trailing behind him like a rampaging black phantom.
Azashiro Sōya furrowed his brow. He had anticipated that Kōe could block the previous Reiryoku slash, but he never expected Kōe to take it in such a manner.
According to his deduction, Kōe's Bankai simply combined all the various forms of his Shikai simultaneously, while naturally taking its defensive capabilities to the next level.
But did that mask, which could detect Reiryoku, also possess defensive power? Azashiro Sōya was somewhat uncertain. He rapidly swung the Zanpakutō in his hand, unleashing over a dozen crescent-shaped Reiryoku slashes aimed at various parts of Kōe's body.
By this time, Kōe had already arrived right in front of Azashiro Sōya. He allowed those crescent blades to strike his chest, his shoulders, and even the mask on his face, as if they weren't lethal slashes meant to take his life, but merely crescent-shaped raindrops.
And that was indeed the case. As these Reiryoku slashes hit Kōe, they shattered into motes of light and dissipated one by one. Kōe's movements didn't falter in the slightest.
The sleeves on his arms shifted—sometimes forming spiral daggers, sometimes turning into soul-reaping scythes. With every retraction of Kōe's hands, they vainly attempted to harvest crimson sustenance.
Elbows, knees, shoulders, and even his back—following Kōe's movements, the black robes draped over him acted like a conjoined twin, always matching his will to manifest pitch-black spikes, leaving Azashiro Sōya somewhat overwhelmed.
Kōe's attacks were chaotic, completely disregarding defense for offense. There were many opportunities where Azashiro Sōya could have thrust his Zanpakutō into anywhere he pleased, and the price he would have to pay was merely taking a minor injury.
But while the opportunities were plentiful, the blade simply wouldn't pierce through. Attacks like air blades hitting Kōe didn't even amount to a tickle. Even when striking with a Zanpakutō condensed with highly concentrated Reiryoku, it couldn't cut into the black robes, nor could it even crack the opponent's mask.
Azashiro Sōya realized it himself: Kōe's Bankai was actually a single, unified entity. Including the mask, the black robes on his body possessed a certain unique property.
Initially, Azashiro Sōya thought this property was a defense made of highly concentrated Reiatsu. But no matter how high one's Reiatsu was, it couldn't be wasted on casually tanking his Reiryoku slashes. If Kōe could truly see Reiryoku, then he should know that such a drain was completely meaningless against him.
Kōe, of course, knew that a battle of attrition was meaningless against Azashiro Sōya. Through the mask, he could clearly see that after the opponent's Reiryoku slashes dissipated, they would reintegrate into the air and return to surround his body.
In other words, Azashiro Sōya's Zanpakutō could be simply understood as absolute control over his own Reiryoku. The Reiatsu inside his body was very low, but the Reiatsu around him could assist him at any given moment. Understood from this perspective, this entire cavern was actually his body.
And the reason Kōe could fight like this was entirely because his Bankai, Kōkiraku Sen'ichaku, could immunize him against the first attack he endured. Afterward, any attack with a Reiatsu lower than that initial strike would be directly nullified by the Sen'ichaku.
Earlier, to ensure he could sever Kōe's arm in a single strike, Azashiro Sōya had condensed all the Reiatsu surrounding his body onto his Zanpakutō. Seeing this, Kōe naturally managed to gauge that threshold perfectly; any attack below that level of Reiatsu could be completely ignored.
Therefore, the current Kōe was acting like an absolute scoundrel, employing a life-for-a-life fighting style when, in reality, his own life was perfectly safe.
"Hadō #7・Scorching Orb [Original Kidō]!"
Dozens of orange orbs suddenly appeared, shooting out in all directions. Hadō #7・Scorching Orb [Original Kidō] condensed flames into beads before firing them off. The more proficient the user, the greater the number of orbs and the faster their firing speed.
But this was merely one of the most basic Hadō. Kōe couldn't understand why Azashiro Sōya would suddenly use this move. Setting aside whether it could even hurt him, the trajectory of several orbs was completely off.
*'Wait, is the trajectory off, or was this Scorching Orb never aimed at me to begin with?'*
Just as the thought arose, black light flared up all around Kōe. And even though Azashiro Sōya was clearly right in front of him, his voice echoed from every direction.
"Hadō #96・Ittō Kasō!"
The ground beneath the Azashiro Sōya in front of him suddenly split in two, and his entire body seemed to fall into a bottomless abyss. Crimson light instantly illuminated the entire cavern. The giant flaming blade that had once appeared in the Seireitei now manifested once more—but this time, ten giant blades were thrusting toward a single point, and Kōe was that singular target.
Boom! Boom!!
The ten giant flaming blades collided, transforming into a towering pillar of fire. The originally thick mountain rock was like paper before it, turning into scorched black powder in less than a second as the colossal pillar shot straight into the sky, looking as if it were holding up the heavens.
At this moment, the Shinigami squad members stationed in the Ryūkai District were over a hundred miles away from Kōe and Azashiro Sōya at their closest. Yet even so, they could still see a thumb-thick pillar of fire in the distance and feel the faint fluctuations of Reiryoku in the air.
To be able to feel it from so far away, one could only imagine what kind of terrifying battle was taking place in the distance. Was a Captain fighting some powerful Hollow? But the latest orders hadn't mentioned any Captain entering the Ryūkai District.
There was, however, a Captain-class fugitive supposedly hiding in the Ryūkai District—Azashiro Sōya! Realizing this, the squad members hurriedly used Kidō to transmit a message. However, they didn't dare go investigate. Even Kuruyashiki Kenpachi had fallen at that man's hands. Them? They probably wouldn't even amount to a side dish to go with his drinks!
It wasn't just these ordinary squad members; currently, any Lieutenant in the Seireitei or a Gillian-class Menos wouldn't be worthy of being that side dish either. As for the Captains, if they had to take this attack head-on, probably very few would survive.
Even with Kōe wearing the Sen'ichaku, the Reiatsu of these ten Ittō Kasō far exceeded the Reiatsu of the slash he had initially tanked from Azashiro Sōya. If he took a hit from this, he'd likely be wiped out of existence.
Therefore, in the moment before the Ittō Kasō fully formed, Kōe directly smashed a fist into the ground, making the exact same choice as Azashiro Sōya to seek refuge underground.
Through his mask, before the Ittō Kasō took shape, he saw Azashiro Sōya's Reiryoku—which had permeated the entire mountain—rapidly retreating underground like a receding tide. So, while dodging was one thing, Kōe's primary thought at this moment was that he absolutely could not let Azashiro Sōya escape!
Boom boom boom boom boom!
Massive rumbling echoed endlessly beneath the earth. Every time Kōe shattered a section of rock, he would use Shunpo to instantly appear before the next rock layer and throw another punch. With such an unrelenting pace, he was actually catching up to Azashiro Sōya's Reiatsu.
Throwing another punch, the rock in front of him instantly crumbled into gravel. However, this time, Azashiro Sōya's figure appeared before Kōe once again—only, in front of Azashiro was a fiercely burning humanoid creature.
"Hadō #96..."
"Ittō Kasō!"
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