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Crack—
The shattering of the barrier brought a look of joy to Hitsugaya Tōshirō's face, and he subconsciously looked into the smoke-filled area.
Abarai Renji, Matsumoto Rangiku, and Hisagi, who were nearby, also stopped their actions and, along with their opponent, Tier Harribel, looked towards the center of the smoke.
Joy was evident on everyone's faces to varying degrees.
As the smoke gradually dispersed, Ishikawa slowly appeared in everyone's sight.
At this moment, Ishikawa looked quite disheveled, bare-chested, with his black work pants having turned into shorts, but there were no injuries on his body.
Buzz buzz buzz buzz—
Amidst a heavy buzzing sound, four figures appeared around Ishikawa.
Harribel frowned, looking at Szayelaporro with eyes full of doubt and inquiry.
Szayelaporro, on the other hand, looked at Urahara Kisuke with a gloomy expression, his gaze filled with the repulsion and killing intent one feels upon meeting a kindred spirit.
"A very interesting barrier."
Meeting Szayelaporro's gaze, Urahara Kisuke smiled indifferently: "However, my research on Ishikawa-sama started many years ago, you know."
...Ishikawa.
Why did that sound so awkward?
Too lazy to bother with Urahara Kisuke, Ishikawa looked at Harribel and the others, a smile appearing on his face:
"Now, are you still going to continue trying to capture me?"
Harribel didn't speak, but simply waved her shark-gill patterned greatsword, and a brilliant blue light flashed wildly on the greatsword, emanating a terrifying Reiatsu far exceeding what she had shown before.
Clearly, she had no intention of abandoning the mission, nor did she plan to hold back any longer.
"Enclose, Murciélago!"
Ulquiorra, who shared the same thought, immediately released his Zanpakuto after the barrier was dispelled.
Pitch-black Reiatsu gathered into a giant sphere, and the next second, a roar came from within the black sphere, and a dark green spear, completely composed of spiritual power, pierced through the black sphere and flew directly towards Ishikawa in mid-air.
"It seems we'll have to fight after all."
Ishikawa didn't dodge, but instead, a slow smile appeared on his face.
An eerie aura spread from his body, and violent lightning surged wildly; at this moment, he seemed to have transformed into a true Shinigami, giving off a sinister and terrifying feeling.
Having suffered such a great loss, if the other party were to use Negación to leave, Ishikawa would have nowhere to vent his frustration!
Moreover...
He also really wanted to test the results of his training.
Boom!!
Without any visible action from Ishikawa, the rapidly approaching dark green spear suddenly stopped in the void about ten meters in front of him, then exploded with a bang, its residual blast completely blocked by a giant transparent barrier tens of meters high.
"Bakudo No. 81: Danku."
Almost at the same time as the dark green spear exploded, Ishikawa stepped into the void in front of him, and as he raised his right hand, the lightning within his body rapidly circulated, and as the lightning power permeated, streaks of lightning immediately emanated from within him, gathering frantically onto Ishikawa's right hand with a rumbling sound at an extremely fast speed.
Finally, a golden lightning ball formed. Grasping the lightning ball, Ishikawa, without any pause, hurled it out with the force of his step!
Although Ulquiorra's expression remained cold, his dark green eyes became serious.
Seeing the lightning ball approach, he didn't dodge, but simply waved one hand, and another dark green spear condensed, holding the spear to meet the lightning ball.
Wherever the spear passed, the void distorted, actually tearing open streaks of black cracks!
Both the lightning ball and the spear were extremely fast, almost in the blink of an eye, they collided!
Dark green and golden light flared intensely, illuminating the night sky as if it were day.
The next second, a deafening roar finally arrived, carrying an impact that spread outwards. The two lights almost instantly reached their peak, then began to weaken, and finally, amidst a series of rumbling thunderous roars, the dark green light was swallowed by the golden lightning.
A figure enveloped in black Reiatsu shot backward, Ulquiorra's face within it grim, his spear-holding arm now gone.
But then...
The vanished arm grew back again.
Super-fast regeneration, as one of the few Arrancar who retained this ability after evolution, Ulquiorra's body, except for his internal organs and brain, could regenerate in a very short time after being damaged.
Meanwhile, Ishikawa didn't look at Ulquiorra, who had shot backward, but instead distorted sharply, letting out a low shout:
"Scram!"
As he spoke, the lightning around Ishikawa's body flowed like water towards his right hand, causing the space around his right hand to indent and appear distorted like a mist.
He threw a punch!
A punch combining strength, Reiatsu, and lightning; the moment it was thrown, the surrounding air instantly vanished.
A visible vacuum wave spread out in a fan shape from the point of impact.
This scene caused Ruby, who had been ambushing him, to change his expression drastically. The terrifying power made him instinctively switch his eight tentacles from offense to defense, coiling them into a round shield to block in front of him.
But the storm created by this punch was too powerful, especially the vacuum wave spreading from the point of impact, which seemed to tear space itself, moving incredibly fast, directly hitting the shield formed by the tentacles!
A deafening roar, audible for several miles, suddenly echoed. The sound was so immense that the unleashed impact spread rapidly in all directions, creating mosquito-coil-shaped circular shockwaves in the night sky, spreading out like waves.
Looking at Ruby again, his body was now like a meteor, flying directly out and finally crashing heavily onto the ground, causing the ground to tremble violently.
If this area hadn't been spatially locked at the beginning of the battle, this tremor might not have stopped for a while!
"Hado #96: Itto Kaso!"
After delivering the punch, Ishikawa didn't check on Ruby's condition. While maintaining the punching motion with his right fist, a scorching hot aura suddenly erupted from his left hand.
His left arm instantly turned to charcoal, but beneath that charcoal, a flash of fire appeared!
"Danbaku!"
A water dragon, formed from seawater, like a deep-sea vortex, attacked Ishikawa directly amidst a rumbling roar.
That water dragon possessed terrifying power, completely different from what it had shown in the barrier earlier, being tens of meters thick, and wherever it passed...
The entire area became incredibly humid!
However, the direction the water dragon attacked was completely opposite.
Boom—!
The moisture in the atmosphere rapidly disappeared, and a giant fiery blade, like a skyscraper, shot up into the sky, traversing the night sky like a butcher's knife, meeting the water dragon head-on.
The collision of water and fire caused mist to rise, immediately forming an incredibly massive mushroom cloud.
As Ishikawa's Reiatsu vibrated, his pitch-black left arm immediately shattered.
Ignoring his shattered left arm, which was gradually regenerating, Ishikawa pointed his right index finger into the void, and nine pitch-black, black-hole-like spheres instantly formed.
"Bakudo #79: Kuyō Shibari."
The nine spheres, upon formation, shot forward.
And in the direction the black spheres went, Ulquiorra's figure emerged from the void; the nine spheres seemed to have been calculated perfectly, locking down the space around him the moment he appeared.
Ulquiorra's expression slightly darkened, and the dark green spear in his hand flared with intense light, the nine spheres rapidly shrinking at a visible speed!
But just then, a low incantation entered Ulquiorra's ears.
"The crest of the turbid Ebon, the insolent, the arrogant, the surging, the denying, the numbing, the flickering, the obstructing, the slumbering! The crawling iron princess, the self-mutilating doll of clay, unite, repel, extend to the ground, know your own powerlessness..."
Ulquiorra's expression changed, feeling as if the space, time, and even Reiatsu within a hundred-meter radius around him distorted, and a crushing pressure, like the sky collapsing, slammed down.
Looking around.
Pitch-black city walls were gradually growing, and gravity lines, like streaks, appeared in the void.
The clouds seemed to scatter rapidly in fear, and the moonlight cast down from the sky seemed to be completely swallowed by the black long coffin at this moment, making the surrounding area pitch black.
"Hado No. 90: Kurohitsugi."
Boom boom boom boom boom—
A continuous tearing sound emanated from within the Kurohitsugi.
This sound lasted for about several seconds, and then a crack suddenly appeared on the surface of the Kurohitsugi.
Zzzzzzzzzzz...
A strange sound came from the crack, accompanied by deep green lightning.
Finally, with a thunderous roar, the Kurohitsugi burst apart, countless dark fragments disintegrating like glass shards and raining down.
Amidst the rain of dark fragments, Ulquiorra, bathed in blood, held a long spear shimmering with deep green lightning, radiating an incredibly terrifying aura.
But the moment he appeared, Ulquiorra's pupils constricted.
In his vision, a fist was rapidly expanding.
"Roar—!"
Vaguely, a beast's roar seemed to enter his ears.
That punch, in his vision, also seemed to transform into the sharp claw of some beast, smashing down at him in fury.
The punch came too fast; in a hurry, Ulquiorra only managed to horizontally position his lightning spear in front of him.
The lightning-covered beast claw collided with the lightning spear.
For a moment, thunder roared wildly, and a booming sound echoed across the sky.
The scattered lightning formed an irregular straight line, as if to split the night sky in two.
Finally, amidst a deafening explosion, two figures, one above and one below, simultaneously shot backward.
Boom—
Ulquiorra crashed into the ground with a loud bang, instantly causing the earth to indent and form a basin, with spiderweb-like cracks spreading outwards from its periphery.
In the air, Ishikawa stood barefoot on the void, his single hand in a claw shape, firmly gripping the void, stabilizing himself after sliding back dozens of meters.
Rumble—!
The moment he stood firm, a tsunami-like roar erupted behind him.
Ishikawa turned his head and saw that the skyscraper-like blade of flame had vanished, and a water dragon, piercing through the swirling mist, roared as it charged towards him.
Although Itto Kaso was created by Commander Yamamoto, its maximum temperature was far from that of Commander Yamamoto's Ryujin Jakka. To completely evaporate Tier Harribel's water pillar with it was truly wishful thinking.
Therefore, Ishikawa was not surprised by this.
Looking at the water pillar that had already reached his back, Ishikawa's fighting spirit soared to its peak at that moment. He did not dodge, nor did he have time to dodge.
Boom~
A roar burst forth from Ishikawa's hands, all his Reiatsu gathering between them.
To make the gathered Reiatsu stronger, Ishikawa's Reikaku Mon also began to operate frantically. He himself became like a black hole, madly devouring the weak Reiatsu of the Human World.
The next instant, he distorted his body and threw a punch!
Almost at the moment Ishikawa distorted his body, the water dragon struck, and Ishikawa's punch directly smashed into the surging water dragon.
Upon the collision of his fist and the water dragon, Ishikawa felt an indescribable heavy pressure emanating from the water dragon. Under the impact of this terrifying pressure, his arm spurted threads of blood.
Not enough~!
Boom.
The flames of Sōren Sōkatsui burst forth from his back out of thin air, and as soon as they appeared, they converged into Ishikawa's punch.
The fusion of lightning and flame caused a deafening explosion within Ishikawa's punch. His body, which had been bent back, straightened up again at this moment.
Rumble—!
The water dragon exploded, and the entire night sky, at that instant, began to pour down heavy rain.
And in the heavy rain, two figures simultaneously shot backward.
Exhilarating—!
Looking at Tier Harribel in mid-air, Ishikawa felt exhilarated all over.
With a single step on the void, Ishikawa once again charged towards Tier Harribel.
And Tier Harribel, at that moment, made the same move as Ishikawa. Both charged towards each other almost simultaneously.
Bang bang bang bang...
Collision sounds echoed in the night sky.
After smashing a punch into the side of the shark-gill patterned greatsword, knocking it askew, Ishikawa closed in, almost pressing against Tier Harribel.
He wasn't trying to take advantage; it was simply because Tier Harribel's greatsword was too large and not suitable for attacking enemies close to her.
That's why, from inside the barrier until now, Ishikawa had continuously engaged Tier Harribel in close-quarters combat, limiting her advantages while maximizing his own!
After all...
His Zanpakuto had not yet recovered and was not suitable for a head-on clash with Tier Harribel.
Tier Harribel looked at Ishikawa, who was within arm's reach, her expression unchanged. She drew her left thumb across her index finger, and as a hint of crimson seeped out, golden light rapidly gathered in her hand.
This scene made Ishikawa, who had originally intended to attack with his fists, unhesitatingly draw his fingertip across his palm. As blood seeped out, it merged into his Reiatsu, and light also converged, but the light in his hand was dark purple!
—Gran Rey Cero!
Golden and purple light erupted from the void, and the impact stirred up a fierce wind.
In the close-range Cero collision, both their bodies trembled. A full-power Cero, even the two who released it could not withstand.
The resulting impact directly sent both of them flying.
Rumble—!
The intense sound only belatedly reached them after they had been flung away.
...
In the distance, Hitsugaya Tōshirō and the others looked at the center of the battlefield with somewhat dazed expressions.
Originally, when they saw Ishikawa emerge from the barrier and then be surrounded again, they were ready to step forward and help.
But...
The battle happened too quickly.
Neither the Arrancar nor Ishikawa had any intention of communicating; intense fighting erupted the moment they left the barrier.
If that were all, it would be fine, but the dizzying combat that followed left them unsure how to intervene.
Especially when they saw Ishikawa's punch make Ruby disappear, even Hitsugaya Tōshirō's expression couldn't help but fall into a daze.
Leaving the others aside, Hitsugaya had a deep understanding of Ruby's strength; otherwise, he wouldn't have been chased all over the place earlier, although that was also to buy time to unleash a stronger technique.
Even when he was cut down by Aizen's sword...
He vaguely realized... this Ishikawa, who had lasted several minutes against Aizen, might be very strong!
But witnessing Ishikawa fight firsthand still left him deeply shocked.
What kind of monster is this!?
Top-tier Kido of the ninetieth number without incantation, terrifying Hakuda techniques, agile and proficient Shunpo, inhuman regeneration ability...
If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, who would believe...
This guy, like Zaraki, is also an untamed fighter from Rukongai!
Not just him, even Urahara Kisuke, who was confronting Szayelaporro in the distance, showed surprise in his eyes.
But not because of the strength Ishikawa displayed, but because...
Ishikawa's speed of progress!
He, who had always been enthusiastic about studying Ishikawa, naturally wouldn't miss the opportunity to collect Ishikawa's battle data.
Compared to his last battle with the Espada in Soul Society, Ishikawa's strength was even more terrifying now.
And most importantly...
Familiar!
Compared to the last time, the current Ishikawa gave him a very familiar feeling of fighting the Espada.
Every move, every stance, would counter the enemy.
After just one battle, he had already researched methods of breaking and responding in a short period.
This could no longer be explained by talent, but by instinct...
An extremely terrifying battle instinct!
However, are guys with such powerful battle instincts prone to going berserk in battle?
He had originally intended to abandon Szayelaporro and go help Ishikawa confront the enemy, but Ishikawa's performance after the battle began made him abandon that idea.
Because he always felt that, with Ishikawa's current state of heightened nervous tension...
If he rashly interfered, he might very well get hit himself!
Of course, it was also mainly because...
Ishikawa seemed to have always been quite annoyed with him, and if he went over now, there was a high chance that Ishikawa would take the opportunity to vent his annoyance on him!
join p atreon.com/KeyofStars for advance chapters | Every 100 powerstones = 1 extra chapter | Report issues @discord.com/GVBdncd9Wr