Ahem… Mr. Shiraha, if Renji hadn't blocked that Kidō you fired, we would have been seriously injured."
Ishida Uryu coughed several times, his expression dark with the realization of how close they had come. Shiraha's Hadō 63, Fiery Lightning Howl, had scorched the training ground so violently that if Renji hadn't intercepted it with Baboon King Zabimaru, both he and Ishida would have taken the blast head-on. With their current strength, even a glancing hit would have left them crippled. Ishida still felt a cold thread of fear thinking about it.
"Ishida, don't forget Orihime. With her here, even if you were seriously injured by me, as long as you aren't dead, she can bring you back." Shiraha pointed toward Orihime, who was training with Tessai in the distance, smiling with casual confidence. Her full manifestation had advanced so far she could regenerate severed limbs; their injuries would have been trivial in comparison.
"The baboon teeth bite!"
Renji shouted, gripping his Zanpakutō with both hands. "Captain Shiraha, you've been fooled!"
The shattered fragments of Baboon King Zabimaru that Shiraha had knocked apart moments ago rose from the ground, scattering into a floating ring around him. Light wrapped around each fragment as Renji triggered the technique, the pieces snapping toward Shiraha in a coordinated assault.
Breaking Mana Formation!
Ishida used the opening Renji created. He placed the Quincy piercing objects at the edges of the glyph he had drawn on the ground, releasing the condensed spirit fluid from a silver tube. A blue pentagram flared to life beneath Shiraha's feet. Dust exploded outward as the formation locked into place.
"Great, it worked!" Renji joined Ishida's side, relief flashing across his face. Their entire approach had relied on trickery, on feigning disadvantage so Renji's Bankai could set the battlefield and Ishida could activate the piercing array. They both knew that individually they could never match Shiraha. Only strategy might allow them to force him into a corner.
"No! It didn't work, Renji, you idiot! None of my arrays detonated!" Ishida snapped. His eyes were wide with disbelief. The formation he had painstakingly set emitted no reaction at all. It was as if the technique had never existed.
A voice answered them through the thinning dust.
"It's a good tactic, but it still isn't enough to deal with me."
Shiraha stepped forward unharmed, smiling faintly. "Renji, have you forgotten what my Zanpakutō ability is?"
Within a meter of Shiraha, the charging Zabimaru fragments and the Quincy pentagram slowed to a crawl, suspended as though time itself had hesitated. Every attack hung frozen in the air.
"Hadō Eighty-Eight. Flying Dragon Strike Thief Shocking Thunder Cannon."
Shiraha raised his right hand, abandoned the chant, and released the spell. A colossal blue beam erupted from his palm with a roar that devoured the entire field.
Everything in front of him vanished into the blinding blast.
"Damn!" Renji and Ishida tried to escape with Shunpo and Hirenkyaku, but the beam reached them instantly. The resulting explosion tore through the training ground, carving a deep crater thousands of meters across. When the dust finally settled, only the unconscious bodies of Renji and Ishida remained, clothes charred and Zanpakutō reverted to its sealed form in Renji's limp hand.
The destructive sound reached Orihime and Chad, who were training with Tessai. Orihime gasped, eyes wide.
"Mr. Shiraha… that was incredible." Shock and awe dripped from her voice.
Chad stared at the devastation. "Too strong. He didn't even draw his Zanpakutō and a single Kidō did all this."
Their combined attack earlier would have overwhelmed Chad easily. The fact that Shiraha hadn't even been fazed left a chill in the air.
"Shiraha's Kidō has grown far beyond what it used to be," Tessai muttered. He had taught Shiraha the high-level spells personally and knew precisely what the young captain's limits had once been. But now, even with abandoned chants, Shiraha produced destructive force that should have required full incantations. Chanted Kidō of this level would be twice as devastating.
"You two, stop staring! Back to training." Tessai appeared behind Chad and Orihime, thumping both of them hard on the head.
"It hurts!" Orihime yelped, clutching her skull. Chad winced quietly.
"Orihime, go heal Ishida and Renji," Shiraha called. Their injuries were severe enough that only her full manifestation could restore them quickly and the practice would sharpen her powers even further.
"Yes! I'll go right now!" Orihime hurried toward the crater.
Urahara Kisuke appeared beside Shiraha with a faint smile. "Shiraha, please try not to use Kidō at that level so casually. The training ground barely survived."
"Mr. Urahara, this isn't on me. Your training ground is sturdier than I expected. At least strong enough to take three or four high-level Kidō without collapsing." Shiraha grinned. The original training space Kisuke built more than a decade ago would have been obliterated the moment Hadō 88 hit. Kisuke had clearly reinforced this one far beyond its old capacity.
"Well, well, I prepare these things for you," Kisuke said lightly.
"Hollow Ichigo. How is his progress?" Shiraha asked.
"According to Hirako and the others, he can maintain the Hollow state for about one full second." Kisuke fanned himself lazily.
"One second? He's advancing faster than expected," Shiraha replied.
At that moment a crushing spiritual pressure swept across Karakura Town. The air shook as if struck by a localized quake.
"That Reiatsu… Arrancar. And more than one." Kisuke's expression sharpened at once.