Just then, a figure suddenly appeared behind Cirucci.
Pfft—!
A dark claw, carrying crimson warm blood and a freshly beating heart, pierced through Cirucci's chest.
"What?"
Cirucci struggled to look back, only to be kicked away, rolling several times in the sand, as dirty and dishevelled as a rag doll in a pile of garbage.
"Yo! Long time no see, Kurosaki."
Grimmjow, in his Resurrección state, looked at Kurosaki ichigo with an excited, slightly arrogant smile, then directly crushed the heart in his hand.
Blood splattered, making the scene quite gory.
However, for Grimmjow, this was a very cool entrance, and it was also a manifestation of his competitive spirit towards Kurosaki ichigo.
"See, the enemy that pestered you for so long was instantly killed by me in one blow, so I'm stronger than you." This was probably the truest thought in Grimmjow, the tsundere leopard's, heart.
But Kurosaki ichigo had no intention of playing along, nor was his attention on Grimmjow's showboating; Grimmjow was essentially casting pearls before swine.
Because a despicable and shameless villain had firmly captured Kurosaki ichigo's attention.
"Bastard! Let go of Chad, Inoue, and Neliel!"
Kurosaki ichigo yelled in exasperation.
"Kurosaki ichigo, don't you want to go save the Shinigami? Then go! What are you hesitating for?"
Kaiser had a sneer on his face.
He stepped on Sado Yasutora, who had just been ambushed and severely wounded, and tightly held Inoue Orihime, who was carrying Neliel, with both hands. He then used spirit particles ropes to drag Cirucci, who had a large hole in his chest and had lost his heart, over and fiercely ordered, "Inoue Orihime, heal him, or I'll kill your companions!"
Upon hearing this, even though her chest was hurting from being squeezed, the tearful Inoue Orihime, worried about Chad's injuries, had no choice but to extend a pale yellow light membrane, enveloping Sado Yasutora and Cirucci, simultaneously healing both enemy and companion.
Kaiser knew that Inoue Orihime would not refuse to heal the injured, so he did not act the moment he saw Grimmjow's sneak attack, but rather wanted to teach this perpetually careless instructor a lesson.
Being continuously ambushed by Hollows in a short period, his perception and vigilance were simply too poor, and he had even been warned to be careful of sneak attacks.
Moreover, instead of helping Cirucci, it was better to directly abduct Kurosaki ichigo's companions, turning passive into active, and firmly grasping Kurosaki ichigo's weakness.
"Damn it!"
Kurosaki ichigo gripped his sword, caught between a rock and a hard place.
Behind the door were the Shinigami he needed to rescue, many of whom were companions he respected. He couldn't just abandon them. But in front of the door were his captive companions, and he certainly couldn't just leave them behind.
Furthermore, with them in the opponent's hands, he dared not act rashly.
What to do? What should he do now?
Even Urahara Kisuke was frowning, finding the problem extremely thorny.
Because he could stir up trouble from behind, or scheme against Kurosaki ichigo in various ways to make him follow the path he desired, but some things couldn't be said directly to his face, and some decisions couldn't be made directly for Kurosaki ichigo.
Especially telling Kurosaki ichigo to abandon his companions and immediately go save the Shinigami – if such words were uttered, it would inevitably create a huge rift.
He was truly careless!
Just then, Kaiser, seeing that Cirucci's life had been saved, began to provoke Kurosaki ichigo again.
"Eh?! Ugh—!!!"
Inoue Orihime's eyes widened.
Kaiser actually forced Inoue Orihime's face towards himself and pressed it down, right in front of everyone.
"Is that Aizen's 'Hōgyoku' that he brought back to Hueco Mundo?"
Loly seemed to have just remembered Inoue Orihime's identity.
"What an evil man."
Sung-Sun murmured.
"Hmph, how despicable and lewd!"
Apache said unhappily.
"This man is like that; he'll stop at nothing to achieve his goals and is keen on plunder."
Harribel seemed to have become numb, gradually getting used to Kaiser's style.
"Inoue... Damn it! Bastard, let go of Inoue!"
Kurosaki ichigo stretched out his left hand, stunned, and after regaining his senses, the pure-hearted high school boy's face turned red as he angrily shouted.
"Ouch. Eh, what happened?"
Because Inoue Orihime was too shocked, her arms went limp for a moment, causing Neliel, who she was holding, to fall to the ground. Neliel then covered her head and mumbled out a cry.
"You're really something. As expected of the Empire's number one stud, you easily did something that makes one blush just by watching. You truly have no sense of shame.
But well done. This is the awareness one should have in war. One should stop at nothing against the enemy; despicable or shameless, a little lewdness doesn't matter. Use everything that can be used. As long as it can contribute to His Majesty, personal morality is not important."
Even Cirucci, who had just been revived by Inoue Orihime, sat up, rubbed his forehead, feeling speechless inside, but still affirmed Kaiser's actions.
Sizzle sizzle tsk ~
On the silent battlefield, there was no longer the clang of clashing weapons, only the sounds of ambiguity that made one's heart pound.
"Is it Inoue Orihime? You seem to have a very good relationship with Kurosaki ichigo. Have you kissed Kurosaki ichigo? Not yet, right~ Your first kiss wasn't with Kurosaki ichigo, it was with me, Kaiser!"
Kaiser released his arms, letting Inoue Orihime, who was almost suffocated from the kiss and completely weak, fall to the ground. He pointed his thumb at himself with an arrogant and proud expression.
"Cough cough... Cough cough cough..."
Inoue Orihime, coughing and gasping on the ground, heard these words and finally realized the seriousness of the problem. Her eyes lost focus for a moment, her hands involuntarily covered her mouth, her eyes became moist, and she kept muttering, "Kurosaki-kun..."
She lowered her head, not daring to look at Kurosaki ichigo, who was now utterly enraged and fuming from Kaiser's actions. Misty tears rolled down, soaking the dry sand.
Having been humiliated in front of the person she secretly loved, Inoue Orihime felt like the sky was falling, and for a moment, she even entertained the thought of the world ending.
"Inoue..."
Kurosaki ichigo saw the severely distressed Inoue Orihime, and his heart was filled with guilt. If it weren't for him, Inoue would not have been taken advantage of by that guy.
"Bastard, I'm going to kill you!"
Kurosaki ichigo said through gritted teeth. For the saintly Ichigo to say such a thing, he was clearly extremely angry.
Although Inoue Orihime secretly loved Kurosaki ichigo, unfortunately, Ichigo at this moment had no romantic feelings for Inoue Orihime.
But they were companions who had gone through many major events and shared hardships. So, seeing Kaiser forcibly kiss Orihime, while there wasn't the bitter feeling of a cuckolded victim, there was still the indignation of a good friend being bullied right in front of him.
"Calm down, calm down, Kurosaki-san!"
Urahara Kisuke quickly hugged Kurosaki ichigo, who was about to go berserk. He didn't want Ichigo to just charge in and be defeated.
"Damn it! You bastard!"
Grimmjow, ignored by everyone, felt very humiliated and decided to attack and smash that despicable hostage-taker.
However, his decisive action was also because he sensed that the other party would not harm the hostages.
"Wait!"
Kurosaki ichigo, who had been held back by Urahara Kisuke, saw Grimmjow move and shouted, extending his hand in a panic, fearing that Kaiser might be provoked and suddenly kill the hostages, or that Chad and Inoue might be caught in the crossfire and injured again.
Compared to the hesitant Kurosaki ichigo, Grimmjow, the leopard, trusted his wild instincts more.
But Grimmjow's intuition seemed right, yet also somehow wrong.
Kaiser indeed had no intention of harming the hostages, but he would not show mercy to Grimmjow, the disruptive leopard. And for Grimmjow, Kaiser was an extremely dangerous existence, but Grimmjow's relied-upon beastly intuition failed to detect the true danger.