"Where do you think you're going?"
At the exact moment Lille turned his gun, an incredibly gentle female voice, even carrying a hint of concern, suddenly sounded right next to his ear without any warning.
That sense of distance was like someone whispering directly into his ear.
But to Lille at this moment, it was no less than the whisper of death.
"Who's there?"
Almost by instinct, Lille's expression changed drastically. He didn't even have time to turn around. His wrist twisted backward at an extremely unnatural angle, and he fired straight at the source of the voice.
Bang!
Although he didn't have time to fully activate The X-Axis in his haste, the high-density spirit particle bullet fired in his Vollstandig state could instantly flatten even a small mountain, let alone a Hollow's flesh.
However—
Ding!
A crisp, pleasant sound rang out, like a raindrop falling onto a string.
Lille's pupils shrank sharply.
Because he saw that the beautiful woman with dark green hair was standing half a meter behind him like a ghost.
She simply crossed her twin blades casually to block, and the spirit particle bullet that could have blown away half of Ulquiorra's body was deflected effortlessly.
"Not bad power. Quite a bit stronger than that little poisonous snake named Askin," Nelliel smiled as she commented, her eyes carrying a pure curiosity and interest.
"His Majesty once told me that your emperor, who slept for a thousand years, distributed his power among you. Not only that, as long as he wishes, even if you die in battle, you can be revived through a ritual called Auswahlen. Is that true?"
"Hmph! That's true enough."
Lille quickly retreated, pulling distance between them. His gun was locked firmly on the unfathomable woman in front of him, his voice cold.
"But I'm curious. Why didn't you kill those two who have already lost the ability to fight?"
On the battlefield behind her, Kyoraku Shunsui and Candice were heavily injured, yet she hadn't delivered a finishing blow.
That kind of mercy on a battlefield was simply foolish. Even if those two lying there were his current allies.
Bang!
Before his words even finished, Lille pulled the trigger again.
This time, what erupted from the muzzle wasn't an ordinary light bullet, but a pitch-black beam that seemed capable of devouring light itself, a ray of death.
This was his ability, the X-Axis.
No matter what kind of defense the opponent had, no matter how strong their spiritual pressure, this strike could ignore everything and directly pierce the conceptual target.
However, facing this certain-kill attack, Nelliel neither dodged nor blocked.
She simply smiled and opened her arms, like she was embracing a gentle breeze, letting that death ray pass straight through the position of her heart without obstruction.
Shhk!
Under Lille's disbelieving gaze, the beam passed through her body, yet it didn't bring up a single drop of blood, nor did it leave any wound on her chest.
It was as if it had passed through an illusory projection. The beam ultimately struck the white sand dunes behind her, raising a massive mushroom cloud.
"How is that possible?"
Lille's hand trembled slightly.
He could clearly sense it, his ability had indeed hit a solid entity, had indeed pierced the target.
'Then why? Why is she completely unharmed?'
"Because I don't like meaningless killing."
Nelliel spoke softly, stepping through the air as she walked toward Lille, her posture as graceful as if she were strolling among clouds.
"Other than the enemies on His Majesty's list who must be eliminated, I won't actively harm anyone with killing intent."
"As long as I don't harbor killing intent, you can't hurt me."
"As long as you don't harbor killing intent?"
Lille felt it was utterly ridiculous, "What kind of bizarre ability is that? Do you think you're a god?"
"Stop! Don't come any closer!"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
While retreating, Lille frantically pulled the trigger.
Dense death rays poured onto Nelliel like a rainstorm.
Head, heart, abdomen… every vital point was pierced countless times.
But every single time, the rays passed through her body in a strange way, like hitting empty air.
"Impossible! My ability is to pierce everything! Even if your spiritual pressure is higher than mine, you shouldn't be able to completely ignore it! Why doesn't it work on you?"
Lille stared intently at Nelliel.
He admitted her spiritual pressure was stronger than his.
But after activating Vollstandig, his spiritual pressure had already surpassed the level of a captain. There wasn't any real gap in rank between them.
With such a small difference, his ability shouldn't have been ineffective.
"Just like how your emperor grants you abilities."
Nelliel had already walked right up to him. In her gentle eyes, Lille's panicked face was reflected clearly.
"Every one of us Espada has awakened a unique ability of our own under His Majesty's guidance."
"And my ability is called…"
She paused for a moment, revealing an incomparably holy smile.
"Mercy."
"Mercy?"
Lille froze.
'Piercing through the body without taking damage, and you call that mercy?'
"Yes, mercy," Nelliel took a light step forward. The muzzle was almost pressed against her forehead.
Bang!
Lille instinctively pulled the trigger.
The beam passed through her brain. Still ineffective.
"This…"
Lille's face turned pale. An unprecedented sense of helplessness surged up inside him.
Activating Hirenkyaku, he no longer cared about the dignity of the Schutzstaffel. He turned and fled wildly toward the central battlefield.
'Damn it!'
'These Hollows are even more bizarre than us Quincy!'
'Every single one of their abilities is disgusting as hell!'
'This woman's ability completely counters mine.'
'Even more than that black-winged demon over there, it suppresses me even harder.'
"Jugram! Switch opponents! I can't handle this woman!"
While sprinting, Lille shouted toward Haschwalth in the distance.
In his view, even though Harribel was the Primera(1st) Espada, she was still less troublesome than this Third Espada who countered him.
However, before Haschwalth could reply, Lille's rapidly moving body suddenly froze.
A blade tip, smooth like white jade, suddenly pierced out from his throat.
Blood dripped along the edge of the blade.
"Sorry, did I interrupt your conversation?"
Nelliel's figure appeared behind Lille out of nowhere. She gently pulled her blade back, bringing out a large spray of vivid blood.
Lille clutched his throat, his eyes unfocused. Even until death, he couldn't understand why the woman who kept saying she didn't like killing could strike so decisively and ruthlessly.
In the distance, Hirako Shinji and the others felt their eyelids twitch.
'Is this really the woman who talked about mercy?'
'She strikes faster than chopping vegetables!'
"And you call that mercy? How are you not embarrassed naming your ability that?"
Ishida Uryu, who had been watching the whole time, twitched at the corner of his mouth and finally couldn't hold back his complaint.
"The way you kill people with that gentle smile on your face looks scarier than the most twisted murderers, okay?"
Nelliel's appearance was calm and approachable, but with blood staining her body and face, paired with that gentle smile, it became even more chilling.
"His name was Lille Barro, right?"
Nelliel didn't get angry. She tilted her head and looked toward Jugram in the distance, her tone calm as if she were checking a list.
"He's on His Majesty's death list. His Majesty said that since your emperor will revive and use Auswahlen to bring back the Schutzstaffel anyway, there's no need to feel burdened when killing them."
After saying that, she turned her head toward the speechless Ishida Uryu, that same unsettling gentle smile returning to her lips.
"As for this young man's question about mercy…"
"I can answer it with something His Majesty once taught me."
She lightly flicked the blood off her blade, her expression turning devout.
"His Majesty told me: the so-called mercy, its true meaning is…"
"Leave kindness to your companions, and leave sorrow to your enemies."
The moment those words came out, combined with Nelliel's devout yet blood-stained expression, the entire place fell into a brief silence.
"Heh! What a bunch of crooked nonsense. No wonder that guy Rosse hangs around with that bastard Aizen. Birds of a feather, I guess."
Hirako Shinji was the first to react. He rested his sword on his shoulder and let out a snort with a hint of disdain.
"Wrong," Jugram, who had been standing like a statue, suddenly spoke.
His pale blue eyes lifted gracefully. His tone was calm, as if the one who had just died wasn't his comrade, but an insect.
"As someone strong, you shouldn't need to rely on such clumsy lies to cover things up. If you truly intended to kill Lille, then why was it that when his attacks passed through your body, you remained unharmed? If you had killing intent, then wouldn't that violate your own rule of mercy?"
"Sharp observation, young man."
Nelliel tilted her head slightly. Her green hair traced a graceful arc in the air as she looked at the leader of the Sternritter with interest.
"That's because if he hadn't run in this direction, I really didn't intend to kill him. In fact, even if I let him go, Sister Harribel would have twisted his head off in the next second."
Her gaze focused on Haschwalth, a hint of interest flashing in her eyes.
"You're Jugram Haschwalth, right?"
"That's correct."
Jugram gave a slight nod, his composure nearly flawless, "Your Hueco Mundo royal palace is very strong. The strength and resolve of every Espada deserve the highest level of attention from us."
"Thank you for the compliment."
Nelliel showed a somewhat troubled expression and spread her hands helplessly, saying something that made all the Quincy present turn pale.
"But unfortunately, whether it's our His Majesty or the others, none of them rate your Wandenreich very highly."
"According to our internal assessment, your entire Wandenreich, including your emperor who slept for a thousand years, aside from you, Jugram Haschwalth, being somewhat worth a look, the rest of you aren't worth our attention at all."
"If you possessed Yhwach's power, we might actually feel more troubled."
She stared straight at Jugram, speaking without any attempt to hide it even in front of Yhwach's projection.
"Unfortunately, although you're the most talented and clear-headed person in the Wandenreich, your emperor doesn't recognize that talent. In our eyes, he's too arrogant, and too foolish."
"I am not even a fraction of His Majesty," Jugram's expression didn't change. He only shook his head slightly, "This kind of low-level attempt at sowing discord has no meaning to me."
"It's true."
Nelliel let out a light laugh, her eyes carrying a hint of pity.
"If you don't believe it, you can ask Sister Harribel. In fact, we have all of your intelligence, everything you know, and everything you don't."
"Even your so-called omniscient and omnipotent emperor doesn't see as far as our His Majesty."
"In our internal evaluation, there's a very precise summary of Mr. Yhwach."
"A dictator with nothing but brute strength, a strange personality, and a broken way of thinking. Someone like that is only suited for easy, one-sided fights. Once he encounters a tough battle against an equal opponent, his performance would be worse than that Shunsui I just stabbed."
"Pfft!", Hirako Shinji almost couldn't hold back his laughter. Clicking his tongue, he gave Nelliel a thumbs-up.
"Tsk! Tsk! Your evaluation is way too sharp, isn't it?"
To be honest, even though they were allies now, he had long found Yhwach unpleasant.
If it weren't for Urahara Kisuke, that master mediator, handling most of the communication, their Visored group would have already clashed with that arrogant Yhwach.
'What's with the act? Yeah, we're not that strong.'
'But you've already fallen to the point of cooperating with us battered remnants, how are you, an old man, still acting all aloof?'
"Hmph!"
Yhwach's shadow suddenly trembled slightly. Though his crimson eyes remained calm, the surrounding air seemed to freeze.
"I have already seen your future. You are nothing more than insects struggling meaninglessly in despair."
His voice was still authoritative, but against Nelliel's earlier words, it now carried a faint sense of bluster.
"See?"
Nelliel smiled even more brightly. She pointed at that shadow as if displaying an interesting specimen.
"His reaction right now is almost exactly the same as what His Majesty wrote in the script. He can only use words like 'future' and 'insects' to cover up his own incompetence."
"Mr. Yhwach, aside from the Royal Palace, the Three Realms have already changed hands. Other than the Royal Palace and the base you're hiding in the shadows of Seireitei, almost everything else is now territory of the Hueco Mundo royal palace. What makes you think you can still see the future clearly?"
Nelliel let out a soft laugh, "You don't actually think we have no way of entering your Wandenreich, do you?"
"The Three Realms?"
Hirako Shinji immediately caught the key term and froze for a moment.
At that instant, he reacted faster than anyone else. Ignoring everything around him, he raised his hand and slashed fiercely through the air in front of him.
Buzz!
A pitch-black Garganta rift did appear.
But this passage, which should have led to the Human World, now seemed tightly stitched shut by countless invisible steel needles. It simply couldn't open, let alone allow passage.
"What did you do?"
Hirako Shinji's expression changed drastically as he stared at Nelliel.
'This shouldn't be possible!'
'Even if the Hollows are stronger, how can they casually block the passage to the Human World?'
'After all, on the other side of that passage, Kisuke is watching over it!'
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