Chapter 161: Lilinette and Starrk
In the boundless night, surrounded by endless yellow sand, under the dim moonlight, two figures—one large and one small—clung to each other.
The night in Hueco Mundo was extremely cold. The breeze blew gravel across two naked bodies. Everything around was so silent, so quiet...
Except for the piles of hollow corpses scattered all around...
"Hey, do you have a name?"
"Name? My name is Lilinette..."
"Then... as my other half, what's your name?" The girl curled up her delicate body and asked in return.
"Starrk. Coyote Starrk." After the man spoke, he picked up a cloak and threw it over the girl, wrapping her small body.
"Where will we go in the future?" Lilinette asked, puzzled.
"Anywhere you want, as long as you're with me... anywhere is fine..."
"Hey, Starrk!"
"What is it, Lilinette!"
"Do you think we'll be separated in the future? I read in the book Fiander showed me that people will always be separated. Two souls huddle together because of loneliness, and they'll also leave because of loneliness."
"Idiot! Don't read those books that guy Fiander brought you. Give it to me—I'm confiscating it!!"
"Ah! Starrk, give the book back to me!"
"Lilinette..."
"Lilinette..."
Starrk, who had fallen into the ruins below, kept calling the girl's name in his heart. But no matter how much he called out, he couldn't get any response from her.
Starrk panicked. As Espada Number One, Starrk showed a panicked expression for the first time in his existence. He stood up from the deep crater in the ground, his pupils dilated, his face becoming extremely pale. A terrifying thought suddenly appeared in his mind.
He couldn't believe it. He looked at the long blade that had fallen to the ground with him—it was the Zanpakuto from Kyoraku's left hand. During the fall, he had clearly seen that blade pierce into Lilinette's body. Just now, Lilinette's figure had never appeared again.
"Did you succeed, Kyoraku-taichou?" Hirako and the others appeared beside him and asked.
"It doesn't seem like it worked. Although his spiritual pressure is weak, it still exists." Kyoraku's face was gloomy as he said nothing more.
Looking at the dust rising from the ground, Muguruma Kensei clenched his fists together and said, "Then let's attack again using the previous pattern!"
"That's impossible!"
Hirako Shinji turned his head to look at Kensei and explained, "Although Sakanade's ability can control another person's nervous system one hundred percent, after activation it doesn't just create visual illusions—it reverses everything the opponent perceives."
"Up and down, left and right, front and back are all interchanged. Even the position of injuries is reversed."
"Especially for people with sensitive nerves, after using it multiple times, the effect is greatly reduced. This is the case with the Arrancar before us. Only intermittent sneak attacks can maximize Sakanade's effectiveness."
"Tch, it doesn't matter. Just let me punch him one more time!"
While the group was talking, all of Fake Karakura Town suddenly began to tremble. Not only Hirako Shinji, but even Hitsugaya Tōshirō and Sui-Feng felt this powerful fluctuation.
"What's happening? Is another enemy attacking?"
Tōshirō stood up and gripped his Zanpakuto, watching the surrounding movement vigilantly.
"It seems to be coming from Kyoraku-taichou's location. There's an intense Reiatsu wave from that area!"
Rangiku's body trembled, her face full of disbelief. Even the other vice-captains with minor injuries felt it.
As the terrifying Reiatsu continued climbing, cracks began appearing around the barrier created by Urahara Kisuke with his barrier pillars.
Hearing the cracking sounds coming from overhead, Soi-Fon hurriedly came to Kyoraku's side and said, "This is bad. The barrier pillars won't be able to hold much longer."
Kyoraku smiled bitterly and looked at Sui-Feng. "Of course I know that. And what's worse right now is..."
Kyoraku pointed to where Starrk had fallen and said, "It seems that a monster has... awakened..."
As his voice fell, a blue beam of light rose from the ground in an instant. Kyoraku, Soi-Fon, Hirako and the others all sensed something wrong. They hurriedly launched Shunpo, dodging beyond the beam's attack range.
Boom!!
The soaring beam of light directly shattered part of the dome created by the barrier pillars, revealing a portion of the real Karakura Town's sky.
"This is terrible!"
Kyoraku was shocked and wanted to stop it, but his rationality told him that going there would be death.
As the dome began crumbling under the impact of the overwhelming Reiatsu, the barrier pillars located at the four corners of the barrier inevitably began sustaining damage...
At this critical moment, a Senkaimon suddenly appeared in the sky. A majestic old man wielding a flaming blade jumped out, cutting through the beam of light with a single strike and saving the barrier that was on the verge of collapse.
"Head Captain Yamamoto?!"
"Captain?"
"Captain Yamamoto!!"
The Shinigami and Visored members subconsciously called out the old man's name.
"What a bunch of useless brats. How shameful that you required me, the Captain-Commander, to come rescue you!"
Yamamoto, who had returned his blade to its sheath, glared angrily and scanned the crowd. At this moment he also saw Hirako Shinji and the others who had fled Soul Society a hundred years ago. After a brief moment of surprise, he still said, "Hirako Shinji, so you've been hiding in the Human World all this time!"
"What are you saying, Head Captain? We've been living quite well in the Human World!"
Hirako Shinji held his Zanpakuto vertically and responded seriously. "Compared to our presence here, shouldn't you pay more attention to the monster beneath our feet, Head Captain?"
Yamamoto Genryūsai, who still didn't understand what Hirako Shinji was talking about, suddenly sensed that the ground beneath his feet—and even the entire atmosphere—was covered by an extremely powerful Reiatsu.
Boom!!
With an explosive sound, terrifying shockwaves whipped at everyone's clothing. Even Genryūsai's long beard swayed uncontrollably in the wind.
At that moment, a man with blue light emanating from his entire body and an incomparably terrifying presence, wrapped in extremely dense Reiatsu, slowly rose into the air and looked down at everyone present.
"That... Head Captain, I still have urgent matters to attend to. I'll leave things here to you!"
A voice familiar to everyone present came through the Senkaimon. The speaker hurriedly closed the portal and left the battlefield.
"Urahara... Kisuke?" Hirako Shinji squinted at where the gateway had disappeared and whispered softly.
"I was careless earlier and was plotted against by an Arrancar, then exiled to an unknown location in the Dangai. Fortunately, Urahara Kisuke came and brought me out." Yamamoto Genryūsai briefly explained his previous experience to Kyoraku and the others.
"Now then, let me see what kind of being actually forced you all to join hands and still end up in this state!"
Saying that, Yamamoto Genryūsai stepped forward, kicked hard against the air, and walked upward to face Starrk directly.
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