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The sharp crack of a sandal echoed as Su Li leapt down from the slope, his tone light yet carrying command. "Hachi, remove the barrier."
Recognizing his voice, Hachigen obeyed without hesitation. The golden lattice dissolved, fading like mist.
White Ichigo's eyes widened, then narrowed with manic delight. "Ahh⊠it's you." His grin split wider, feral, as his gaze locked onto Su Li. "Ichigo, that coward, always trembled whenever you appeared. His pathetic timidity disgusts me. But nowâŠ" His blade lifted, trembling with murderous intent. "Now I'll kill you."
The air detonated as White Ichigo vanished in a blur, his speed eclipsing anything Ichigo had ever shown. Tensa Zangetsu whirled in his grasp, the black chain shrieking as the blade spun faster than the eye could follow. The air itself howled as the weapon scythed forward.
"Die!"
The flailing chain lashed across the ground, tearing stone into a storm of shards. The weapon ripped toward Su Li, its edge singing with lethal force.
But Su Li's expression never shifted. Calm, unhurried, he simply raised his hand.
"Su Li-san!!" Hiyori shouted, her face pale.
"Wait!!" Kensei barked, horror in his voice. Orihime gasped, frozen with dread. None could believe what they were seeingâhe hadn't drawn his ZanpakutĆ, hadn't even braced. Was he planning to catch it barehanded?
The chain shrieked to a halt with a soft jingle. Gasps echoed. Against all reason, Su Li's hand had closed around the hilt, arresting the spinning blade mid-flight.
White Ichigo's pupils shrank. The Visoreds stared in disbelief. They couldn't even track the motion, yet Su Li had seized it effortlessly.
Before the shock settled, blood fountained. A deep gash tore across White Ichigo's chest, the crimson spray vivid against the pale mask. He staggered back, eyes wide with disbelief. Su Li had cut himâwith Tensa Zangetsu itself.
A strange recognition flickered in White Ichigo's eyes. Su Li understood. White Ichigo was Zangetsu, the blade itself given form. To be cut by his own edge was the purest irony. This cut isn't mine, Su Li's calm eyes seemed to say. It's yours.
The Visoreds trembled. They had felt Ichigo's Hollowfied reiatsuâit dwarfed anything he'd wielded before, so far beyond them that even one blow would kill. Yet Su Li had met him with one motion and drawn blood. The gulf between them and Su Li was deeper than they had imagined.
"IchigoâŠ" Orihime whispered, her voice breaking as she stared at the bleeding figure.
Snarling, White Ichigo tore backward, trying to wrench his sword free. Su Li moved before he could. In a blur, Su Li's figure reappeared at his side, blade flashing. Another spray of blood burst forth as the edge carved across White Ichigo's body.
Madness consumed him. "Don't you dare look down on me, bastard!!" With a roar, he forced Tensa Zangetsu back into his grip, the chain snapping taut as black reiatsu flared.
Su Li released the hilt with mild regret, glancing at his empty hand. "Not mine to keep."
"Die!" White Ichigo screamed, hurling his blade down. A jagged black crescent erupted, but this was no ordinary Getsuga TenshĆ. Twisted and writhing, the unstable blast carved the ground into jagged scars, its path unpredictable, the destruction monstrous.
The crescent shrieked toward Su Li, but he only slid his hands into his pockets, stepping aside with a lazy shift of his shoulders. The black wave ripped past harmlessly, tearing the chamber apart.
Driven to frenzy, White Ichigo swung again and again. Getsuga after Getsuga filled the underground world, the overlapping arcs weaving into a titanic black net that closed around Su Li from every direction. But his silhouette slipped through each gap with effortless grace, flickering like a fish darting between reeds, untouched no matter how tight the noose drew.
The Visoreds gaped. Each of those blasts could have killed them a hundred times over, yet Su Li moved as though strolling through rain. Hands still in his pockets, he had not even bothered to draw steel.
"What the hellâare they trying to bring this whole place down?!" Shinji arrived in time to see the chaos, staring at the crumbling cavern in disbelief. His words went unheard; all eyes remained locked on the black net collapsing inward.
White Ichigo shrieked, his voice ragged with mania. "Die! Die! Die!!" With a final swing, the web collapsed, exploding in a deafening roar. The underground chamber shook violently, walls cracking as air pressure blasted outward in a hurricane of dust and stone.
"Damn it, Hachi! Why didn't you keep the barrier up?!" Shinji staggered, shouting over the storm.
"Iâ!" Hachigen flinched, wronged beyond words. He hadn't taken it down on his own, nor imagined Su Li and Ichigo would unleash such devastation. He lifted his hands to rebuild itâthen froze.
Through the haze of smoke and debris, a shadow streaked upward like lightning. The impact thundered as Ichigo's body slammed into the high ceiling, blood spraying, his frame pinned against the stone.
A second whistle split the air. Tensa Zangetsu, hurled with perfect precision, buried itself into the wall beside his head, the black edge humming inches from his skull.
Bloodied, his mask cracked, White Ichigo's wild eyes dimmed with confusion. His head lifted weakly. And then Su Li was there, standing before him, hand pressing firmly atop his head.
"Are we still playing, Ichigo?" His voice was quiet, steady, cutting through the madness.
Clarity flickered in Ichigo's gaze. His breath hitched, eyes twitching with something perilously close to fear. He stared at Su Li for a long, trembling moment.
Then, with a faint sigh, his strength fled. His eyes rolled back, and Kurosaki Ichigo collapsed into unconsciousness.
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