Chapter 181

  After swallowing a single Gillian, Szayeporro’s wounds nearly fully healed.

  He licked his lips and reached out again.

  However, something moved even faster than him—a bde wreathed in blue fmes.

  With a long chain’s swift swing, Rixiang Jimie traced a huge arc across the battlefield, slicing every remaining Gillian in half.

  Szayeporro’s expression twisted with anger. He gred at Kaelith, fury etched on his face.

  Kaelith opened his hand, allowing the chain to whip back around his arm. The short bdes, still crackling with blue fire, returned to him. As they did, a fsh of white light passed over them, and they reverted to ordinary Zanpakutō.

  Gripping the bdes, Kaelith instinctively started to throw them again, but caught himself mid-motion. Instead of hurling them outward, he stylishly slid them back into their sheaths. Seeing Szayeporro gnash his teeth, Kaelith dug a finger into his ear.

  “What’s with that look? Were you expecting your enemy to stand there like a disconnected statue, watching you heal up on the battlefield? Don’t understand such basic rules of combat, and you still show up for a fight?”

  Szayeporro’s eyelid twitched. He was about to cim he was a refined schor, unlike these common brawlers, but before he could speak, Aizen interjected:

  “Kaelith, don’t be so harsh. Considering he wants to take you back for experiments and he’s studying reishi toxins, he’s probably a researcher. Researchers in their immature stages often think ‘as long as I focus on my research, battle skills aren’t important.’ I had such thoughts too when I was very young.”

  Aizen stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Hollows’ ages are hard to determine by appearance. Given his immature mindset, perhaps this one is still very young. Though cking insight, he’s at least striving for his ideals, which is commendable.” (t/n; Oh, they are teaming up verbally as well now)

  “Shut up!!!”

  Szayeporro roared, cutting him off. These two little brats, these mere Shinigami—how dare they insult the great Szayeporro like this?

  At least Kaelith’s mocking was straightforward. That quiet, refined-looking one pretended to defend him, but was even more despicable.

  With growing anger, the four fleshy appendages behind Szayeporro shed out once more, moving at speeds impossible to follow with the naked eye.

  “Die, Kaelith!”

  Szayeporro bellowed.

  “Let’s see how much weight you carry!” Kaelith responded. Instead of using Rixiang Jimie, he fshed into the center of the battlefield and raised one arm. He pressed his fingers together, forming his hand into a bde.

  In an instant, blue fmes of Shunhon roared upward from his shoulder, converging at his hand to form a searing bde of fire.

  “Fme Bde!”

  A wave of fire shot from Kaelith’s hand, colliding with one of the appendages in a massive explosion.

  Meanwhile, Kaelith’s shadow swordsman silently struck another appendage, delivering several sshes and leaving two deep wounds.

  Szayeporro’s eyes narrowed. He sensed no presence there—no Reiatsu fluctuations at all. What had hurt him?

  As his attention shifted, Aizen acted like a living artillery ptform, firing Kido one after another.

  “Hado #73: Sōren Sōkatsui!” “Hado #54: Haien!” “Hado #63: Raikōhō!”

  Kaelith, trailing a long tail of blue fire as he darted through the air, managed to spare a moment to glide over near Aizen. “Sōsuke, are you pnning to transfer to the Kido Corps? All you do is cast Kido.”

  “…?”

  Aizen shot him a less-than-pleased look. Did Kaelith not realize why he was using Kido? Kyōka Suigetsu’s ability wasn’t of much use in a head-on battle, so without relying on swordsmanship alone, Kido was all he had left.

  Aizen silently took note, then responded: “What’s this? Because you’re unskilled in Kido due to negligence, you’re jealous when you see me using it?”

  Kaelith blinked, then burst out ughing: “Ridiculous! I, Kaelith, am never inferior, even to you, Aizen! Want to see me use Kido? Fine, I’ll show you!”

  He raised a finger, imitating Aizen’s earlier pose.

  Seeing this, Aizen’s heart tightened slightly. Kaelith began chanting loudly:

  “Veiled by murky crests, the unruly and arrogant prowess!”

  Hearing this familiar incantation, Aizen’s eyelid twitched. Seriously?

  Kaelith continued, “Tides surge, denial, paralysis in an instant, obstruct eternal slumber—crawling steel princess, self-mutiting cy dolls!”

  Not far away, Szayeporro’s face contorted in anger. They had ambushed him with that spell before, and now they wanted to do it again?

  He summoned reishi light beneath his feet, preparing to use Sonído to escape.

  Noticing his movement, Aizen moved. He used Shunpo to appear beside Szayeporro, drawing Kyōka Suigetsu and engaging him with powerful sword strikes to prevent him from escaping.

  Szayeporro expected to brush Aizen aside easily, but quickly realized this was no simple Lieutenant. Though his rank indicated otherwise, Aizen’s Reiatsu intensity was at a Vasto Lorde level. Had Szayeporro not partially merged with Shinigami powers, he might have been suppressed outright.

  More than the Reiatsu itself, it was Aizen’s monstrous tactical sense that disturbed him.

  Aizen didn’t go for a reckless offense. Instead, he remained defensive, leaving no opening for Szayeporro to push him away. If Szayeporro tried to ignore Aizen and flee from Kaelith’s Kido, Aizen would instantly switch to offense, using his formidable Reiatsu for a devastating strike.

  As Szayeporro struggled to deal with Aizen, Kaelith’s chant continued:

  “Combine, rebound, extend to the ground, know your own weakness!”

  “Hado #90!”

  “Kurohitsugi!”

  With the final sylble, bck spiritual pressure surged upward around Szayeporro’s feet. Recognizing the familiar structure of the encroaching bck box, Aizen realized Kaelith had truly mastered the 90th-level Kido.

  For a moment, Aizen couldn’t help feeling a bit emotional. Was there anything Kaelith couldn’t do?

  By now, Kurohitsugi’s walls were rising around Szayeporro’s chest. In Kurohitsugi’s unique confinement, Szayeporro had no way out.

  Aizen prepared to retreat and muster another attack. But at that very moment, under his watchful gaze, Szayeporro suddenly grinned.

  Within the steadily forming bck walls of Kurohitsugi, bck liquid burst forth from behind Szayeporro, rushing straight toward Aizen…