Soul King's Left Hand—Pernida—could release his nerves outside his body and twist any living or non-living target that those nerve tendrils touched.
His entire combat style relied on those exposed nerves acting as lethal whips to assault enemies.
Unfortunately for him, today he had encountered a Shinigami whose body was entirely immune to that Forced Execution ability.
Pernida's whip-like nerves lashed forward at blinding speed—
But Mayuri Kurotsuchi casually brushed them aside.
The layer of skin that made contact with the nerves peeled off—twisting and curling grotesquely—before falling away like a shed husk.
"No new tricks, huh? Your attack pattern really is simple."
Mayuri grinned, eyes wide in his signature manic delight.
He had modified his own body in preparation. A special layer of keratin coated his skin—constantly regenerating and shedding.
Whenever a nerve touched it, the keratin would instantly slough off, severing any transmission before it reached his true body.
He'd also altered his feet—equipping them with automatic Hiryūkyaku emitters.
That allowed him to fly freely in the high-Reishi environment of the Wandenreich, avoiding Pernida's tendrils that burrowed through the ground.
Mayuri's taunts infuriated Pernida. On his massive fingertip, a Spirit Bow formed, notched with a Heilig Pfeil.
This arrow carried nerve payloads—if it pierced flesh, the neurotics would take over.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!
Mayuri glided through the air via Hiryūkyaku, dodging each sacred arrow with ease.
But Pernida's control over his nerves allowed him to redirect the arrows—even the ones Mayuri had dodged now curled back mid-air to chase him down again.
As more arrows filled the sky, Mayuri's maneuvering space shrank.
"Tch. Brainless brute."
With a smirk, Mayuri flung a small green vial into the air from his sleeve.
The next volley of arrows shattered it.
The vial exploded into a wide cloud of green mist, which instantly enveloped all airborne arrows.
Within moments, every one of them dropped dead from the sky.
Even the exposed nerve tendrils, upon touching the mist, turned pitch black—then crumbled into dust.
"You rely entirely on nerves to activate your powers…
Which makes you ridiculously easy to counter. All I needed was a nerve-killing gas."
Seeing the spreading fog, Pernida quickly reacted.
His massive hand slammed down, blasting the area with gusts of wind to scatter the mist.
"I hear you can split and regenerate. Why don't we test your limits?"
Mayuri pulled out a modified bomb and slingshot-launched it.
The sticky explosive latched onto Pernida's finger and detonated with a thunderous boom.
Schlk—!
One of Pernida's fingers fell to the ground.
But it rapidly ballooned—transforming into a brand-new arm.
Soon, two towering arms stood before Mayuri, each over ten meters tall.
Both palms slammed down simultaneously—trying to squash him like a bug.
"Hmph. Even split, you've got no new tricks."
Mayuri shook his head and danced between the strikes, easily dodging with Hiryūkyaku.
"Rrrahh!!"
Frustrated beyond reason, Pernida tore off several of his own fingers.
Each one quickly split and transformed into another giant arm.
After several repetitions, seven massive left arms now loomed over Mayuri.
All seven fired Heilig Pfeil at once—dozens of arrows screamed toward him in a storm of death.
These arrows lacked nerve connections—meaning Mayuri's nerve-killing gas was useless against them.
"All you did was increase volume.
No qualitative change in strategy."
Mayuri tapped the grotesque baby face embedded in his Zanpakutō.
"Bankai—Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō."
A monstrous golden creature burst into existence.
It had the face of a wailing baby, bulbous gray eyes, a hollow steel ring like a halo over its head, and a long, segmented larval body like a pillar-sized caterpillar.
Unlike most Bankai, this one was biological.
The infant beast raised its grotesque head and blocked the arrow storm.
SCREEEEE—!!!
Its gaping mouth shrieked in agony as it deflected the volley.
Wounds tore across its body—but green mist leaked from the injuries.
"I made a few tweaks to Ashisogi Jizō just for you."
Upon learning that Pernida was the Soul King's Left Hand, Mayuri had given up the idea of killing him.
His goal became capturing this rare specimen alive.
The green fog spread to all seven arms.
As it touched them, their skin withered and dried.
"Wha—why... can't... I... move…?"
Pernida and his clones began to slow—speech and movement alike.
"Hohohoho! That's the new venom. It rots your skin—
And lets the neurotoxins seep directly into your nervous system."
The violet haze surrounded Mayuri too, but he remained untouched.
He stepped forward with a syringe in hand—injecting concentrated neurotoxin into each body.
BOOM—
Pernida and the clones collapsed.
Six of the seven arms instantly dissolved into Reishi.
"Only one remains, huh...
Looks like those clones were just spirit constructs after all."
Mayuri sighed—mildly disappointed.
Still, to capture the Soul King's Left Hand alive? Worth it.
He pulled out a massive containment cylinder, stuffed the paralyzed Pernida inside, and filled it with liquid sedatives.
"Looks like everyone else is wrapping up too.
Guess I'll swing by Yhwach's palace.
Maybe I can bag myself a Quincy King while I'm at it."
Mayuri scanned the battlefield—then turned toward Silbern in the distance.
Though he'd dissected many Quincy and even learned their Reishi-based tech…
He'd never gotten to experiment on the Quincy King.
That thought alone sent a thrill through his body.
Without hesitation, he set off for the heart of Silbern.
Silbern — Imperial Bedchamber
Sternritter Grandmaster Jugram Haschwalth stood alone before the throne.
"Your Majesty, the squad led by Gremmy has been defeated by the Shinigami."
Haschwalth knelt on one knee.
On the throne, Yhwach slowly opened his eyes.
"I know.
They have already… returned to me."