Gerard swung his shield, swatting the lightning naginata away.
The lightning naginata flew toward an empty area.
Just then, a figure suddenly appeared and caught the naginata.
"It seems I'm just in time."
The person who caught 'Tekkō Tonbo' was Sora, who had just finished off Askin and rushed over.
"Professor!"
"Captain Katori!"
Lisa Yadōmaru and Ginjirō Shirogane both breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Sora arrive.
"Another helper? You look a bit tougher, but you'll just be another soul for the 'Sword of Hope'!"
Gerard raised his giant sword.
At the same time, Sora also raised Lisa Yadōmaru's 'Tekkō Tonbo'.
Swoosh—
Before the giant sword could fall, 'Tekkō Tonbo' pierced through Gerard's head.
The bloody 'Tekkō Tonbo' landed at Lisa Yadōmaru's feet.
"Take good care of your Zanpakutō, Lisa."
A white mask quickly formed on Sora's face.
After being pierced through the head, Gerard (The Miracle) fell to one knee. But the fatal wound on his head healed quickly.
"A mere fatal wound only makes me stronger!"
Gerard stood up again.
He continued to swing his sword. His speed and power were now several times greater than before.
Being revived from death... 'The Miracle' gave the biggest boost!
Smack—
The falling 'Sword of Hope' was blocked by Sora with one hand.
"It seems you're still not strong enough."
The next instant, his blade flashed rapidly.
Dense blood-red lines appeared on Gerard's body.
Then, the giant's body instantly split into dozens of pieces.
Sora's eyes focused. He saw the silver Star Medallion exposed in the air.
Red-black Spiritual Pressure flowed from his blade.
A red-black flash of light (Ryūkō) instantly passed through the silver Star Medallion.
The moment the medallion was destroyed by the red-black light, the giant's body parts, which had been trying to reassemble, lost 'The Miracle'.
They fell from the sky.
Schrift 'M', Gerard, wielder of 'The Miracle', hadn't lasted one minute against Sora.
"Weaker than I expected... Not enough power-ups? Or maybe Yhwach didn't share much power with him."
Sora felt that even after several power-ups, Gerard was only a bit stronger than Kensei Muguruma.
"The Professor is so strong! He beat 'The Miracle' in the blink of an eye!"
Lisa Yadōmaru was amazed.
A minute ago, she and her teammates were in a bitter fight, and losing. They were about to be wiped out.
But in front of her Professor, Gerard (The Miracle) was completely helpless.
"Cough, cough— Captain Katori's strength... is probably not below the Captain-Commander's."
Chōjirō Sasakibe, who had been hit by Gerard's giant sword, hadn't been knocked out, but he was badly injured.
Sora walked over to the giant's remains.
Gerard's true identity was the Heart of the Soul King.
He wanted to see if he could find the Soul King's Heart in the remains.
"Some of the power returned to Yhwach..."
Sora didn't sense much Spiritual Pressure left in Gerard's corpse.
However, he found some throbbing pieces of flesh in the remains.
"This is..."
Sora sensed a familiar Spiritual Pressure. He took out the glass box containing the Hōgyoku from his pocket.
He picked up a piece of the throbbing flesh and placed it on the Hōgyoku.
The next moment, the flesh turned into white light and flowed into the Hōgyoku.
"It really is a Soul King fragment. It seems these are the fragments of the Soul King's Heart."
After the Hōgyoku grew to a certain point, it could absorb Soul King fragments directly.
He didn't need to process the fragments to extract the power, like when he first made it.
The giant's remains were scattered all over from the fall, and it would take time to collect them all.
Sora left a shadow clone here to gather the Soul King fragments.
"If I find all the heart fragments, I might be able to evolve this Hōgyoku into its complete form."
Sora now had two Hōgyoku, both about halfway complete. If he fused them, he could get one complete Hōgyoku.
Now, with the Soul King's Heart, he might be able to evolve this one Hōgyoku to its complete form.
"There's still a Left Arm of the Soul King over there..."
Sora glanced at the giant hand fighting Mayuri Kurotsuchi in the distance.
Maybe he had a chance to make the other half-Hōgyoku complete, too.
Swoosh—
Sora appeared in front of Lisa Yadōmaru. She and Ginjirō Shirogane were treating the badly injured Chōjirō Sasakibe and Marechiyo Ōmaeda.
Sora went over to check their injuries.
"They aren't fatal. I won't stay. Lisa, you stay here and treat them. I have to go help Captain Kyōraku and Isshin."
Sora sensed the other battlefields. Shunsui and Isshin were in a critical situation. Someone had to help them.
Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto seemed to be holding back, worried about the other Shinigami nearby. He still hadn't used his Bankai.
He hadn't even finished the Loyd and Royd brothers yet.
Everyone else was busy, so Sora had to be the one to help Shunsui and Isshin.
"Leave it to us!"
Lisa Yadōmaru nodded.
...
Shunsui Kyōraku leaned against a broken wall, using Kaidō on his Lieutenant, who was lying in front of him.
"Captain... don't worry about me... cough... go help Captain Shiba... cough, cough..."
The Squad 8 Lieutenant had a huge hole through his abdomen. His Spiritual Pressure was fading fast.
"Don't talk."
Shunsui Kyōraku was using every bit of skill he had to treat the wound.
He was lucky Isshin Shiba had arrived to help, or he wouldn't have even had the chance to get his Lieutenant to safety.
Before Isshin arrived, he and his Lieutenant had been fighting Schrift 'X', Lille Barro.
"You just lie here."
Shunsui saw his Lieutenant's condition stabilize. He prepared to go help Isshin Shiba.
Lille Barro was strong. Isshin Shiba couldn't handle him alone. In just this short time, he was already losing.
Isshin Shiba flashed, appearing behind Lille Barro.
"Getsuga—"
Isshin jumped high, the flames on his blade rising.
Boom—
A Reishi bullet instantly pierced Isshin's left leg.
Isshin lost his balance and fell to the ground.
"Damn it!"
Isshin looked up and saw the gun barrel aimed at him again. His face changed.
With his leg injured, he couldn't dodge in time!
Just then, a Zanpakutō instantly pierced Lille Barro's chest.
Shunsui Kyōraku rose up from Lille Barro's shadow.
"I stepped on your shadow."
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