Chapter 113: Hellscape
Tearing off his top with a single motion, Satoru bared a manic grin.
Amidst a tsunami of overwhelming spiritual pressure, his entire body roared like a war machine enchanted with forbidden spells, launching into the sky!
Encased in radiant spiritual light, he shone brilliantly.
Rennosuke looked up at Satoru.
That glowing figure was dazzling.
Just like the way this man had burst onto the scene—utterly dazzling…
In the split second Rennosuke's focus wavered, Satoru stretched his arms back, his body fully extended.
Then, with several explosive shockwaves, he instantly closed the distance—
"Primordial Combat Arts…"
"True Count—Hundred Bones!!"
The moment the technique's name was shouted, Satoru's arms seemed to transform into countless afterimages.
Fists linked into lines, striking in waves, raining down upon Rennosuke like a violent storm!
"Frenzied Forest!!"
Rennosuke, in turn, summoned a massive surge of wooden tendrils to meet Satoru's assault.
Amplified by the Bankai space, the branches he summoned were extraordinarily strong, with astonishing resilience, stretching hundreds of meters across the battlefield. The dust they kicked up blotted out the sky.
An ocean of trees clashed against the blazing sun of spiritual pressure, unleashing terrifying shockwaves!
Ripples of spiritual energy surged outward violently in all directions.
The surrounding space itself seemed on the verge of buckling under the strain.
Yet, Satoru merely laughed as he swung his fists, effortlessly smashing and repelling every branch that came near him.
What should have been a forest surge capable of overwhelming even an ordinary captain-level fighter couldn't even slow Satoru down.
Countless trees roared as they erupted from the ground, lashing and coiling, trying to bind and strike him.
Against any normal captain, even one stronger than Rennosuke, this relentless onslaught would have gradually drained their spiritual pressure, reducing them to playthings in his grasp.
But Satoru—his spiritual pressure only grew stronger!
He was like a bottomless black hole, endlessly spewing forth power accumulated over countless eons.
A sense of dread crept into Rennosuke's heart.
What the hell was this guy—a monster? A god?!
How could anyone possess such inexhaustible spiritual pressure?
Standing at the heart of the forest surge, he frantically drove even more trees toward Satoru.
He refused to believe this guy's power was truly limitless!
A mere graduate of the Shin'ō Academy—even with some special ability, there was no way he could bridge the gap between Bankai and non-Bankai!
As if reading his thoughts, Satoru grabbed two thick roots stabbing toward his head and tore them apart with a grin.
"Useless, useless!"
"Sōsuke is the strongest Stand!"
"If I were only Fourth-Level Reiatsu, you might still crush me with sheer superiority... but now? You've lost that chance!"
As he spoke, his spiritual pressure continued to intensify layer by layer.
Condensed like a storm, dense as the heavens themselves!
Under Rennosuke's suffocating gaze, Satoru swung one arm, unleashing a shockwave of spiritual pressure that momentarily halted the forest surge before him.
His other hand drew back to his waist, fingers tightening into a fist.
"Primordial Fluid Fist Technique..."
The spiritual pressure that had been escalating throughout the battle suddenly rushed back from all directions, converging into Satoru's body.
Power so immense it threatened to rupture the Bankai space was compressed entirely into his form.
And finally, all of it gathered into his fist.
The light around his clenched fist distorted unnaturally—an interference wave caused by the extreme compression of spiritual pressure!
Rennosuke's instincts screamed at him—this next attack would be deadly.
Not that he needed the warning.
He knew better than anyone in the Soul Society just how devastating Satoru's charged punch could be.
After all, Yasushi Takada had fallen to that very fist that night.
With a roar, Rennosuke plunged his Zanpakutō into the ground—
An invisible circle rapidly expanded outward with him at the center, causing all surrounding trees to instantly wither and die.
Everywhere it passed, trees toppled over.
The terrifying power contained within these trees, plants, and vines all converged into his blade!
Satoru swung his fist—seemingly slow and heavy, yet also fast and violent—
"True: One Bone Shockwave!!"
A dazzling white light erupted forth.
For a moment, the entire world seemed to lose its color. Rennosuke felt as though his vision had been completely stripped away.
He yanked his Zanpakutō from the ground and pointed it at Satoru—
"Frenzied Forest: Requiem of Silence!!"
A beam of black spiritual pressure tinged with sickly green shot forth like a Cero, blazing through the air!
BOOM!!!!!!!!
Marenoshin Ōmaeda, deep in slumber, suddenly jolted upright as if electrocuted.
With drool still at the corner of his mouth, he grabbed his Zanpakutō.
At the same time, he conjured flames with Kidō, lighting all the oil lamps in the room.
Then, to his shock, he saw that the wall of his room had been blasted open at some point.
Two figures had already barged in.
One lay on the ground, wreathed in smoke, looking half-dead.
The other had a frenzied expression, excitement written all over his face, one foot planted firmly on the first man.
The similarity was that he, too, was covered in scorch marks, patches of his skin seemingly burned away by what looked like Kidō energy.
If not for sensing his spiritual pressure, Marenoshin would have thought he was seeing a ghost.
"...S-Satoru?"
With Satoru's face covered in soot from the explosion, he hesitated to recognize him.
Satoru, still stepping on Rennosuke, raised his Zanpakutō and stabbed downward, pinning the latter's leg to the tatami.
Blood splattered across his face.
Turning to Marenoshin, his face smeared with blood and ash, he shouted—
"Quick! Uncle Marenoshin, call Kōga! Call Yoruichi! Contact the Kuchiki family—tell them it's time to move!"
Marenoshin's eyes widened.
He had no idea what the hell was happening.
But as a veteran of the Onmitsukidō, his specialty was following orders.
The moment Satoru finished speaking, he vanished from the room with Shunpo without another word.
Before long, figures began arriving one after another.
At the sight before them, everyone looked as if they'd seen a ghost.
On the ground, a smoke-wreathed, battered humanoid figure roared as it struggled to rise.
Beside him, a humanoid figure that didn't look much better was stepping on him, laughing arrogantly.
Every now and then, it would stab downward with a blade.
What a hellish scene…