*Rustle.*
'What... is that...!'
No change in expression could be seen on his skull-like face, but the intense fluctuations in his released Reiatsu still revealed his drastically shifting state of mind.
There was no other reason—he had simply detected a familiar aura emanating from Naraku Sora.
A profound, pitch-black pillar of light erupted with a boom. An aura of ultimate brutality gushed forth in that moment, accompanied by a deafening roar that annihilated the silver sand beneath his feet.
A figure wreathed in pitch-black Reiatsu stepped out of the pillar of light, flashing a ferocious smile at the King of Hueco Mundo in the sky.
The demon-like bone mask and the stark white teeth it bared made Baraggan slightly dizzy.
'Just what kind of power is this?'
'Why do I sense the aura of a Hollow on a mere Soul Reaper?'
'And what is with these intense, inexplicable palpitations?'
'Could it be that this ant-like fellow can actually rival the power of aging?'
'Impossible, absolutely impossible!'
Baraggan's resolve firmed up once more, his hollow eyes staring straight down.
"Although I do not know what exactly has happened to you."
"Facing a true god, you still cannot escape your destined end."
"Flowers, trees, the sky, the breeze, the clouds... no matter what it is, everything is equal under my power."
"Experience this ultimate terror well, Soul Reaper."
"Turn to bone in despair and perish completely."
"Breath of Death!"
Darkness descended. A surging black tide billowed downward with Baraggan at its center, carrying an aura that rotted all things and annihilating everything in sight.
Although he did not know what had happened to Naraku Sora, Baraggan still understood the principle of striking first to gain the upper hand.
The more uneasy the opponent made him feel, the faster he needed to erase him.
Only the dead pose no threat.
Whether it was a past nemesis or a present archenemy.
Let them all turn to dust and vanish in the torrent of time!
Watching the surging black tide rapidly approaching, Naraku Sora slashed his sword without a second thought.
Sizzling, brilliant arcs of electricity danced wildly. Intense heat rapidly spread and rose amidst the azure lightning, instantly tearing through the wasteland ahead and spewing out a massive amount of light and heat.
Demon Sword Technique・Flying Dragon-Striking Heaven-Shaking Lightning Cannon!
The sword pressure, composed entirely of lightning, crashed solidly into the black tide.
The rot was buried into the soil like a seed, and soon, it sprouted the fruit of demise.
The shockwaves spread out like ripples.
The tyrannical power tore a rift through Baraggan's proud aging ability, continuously pushing forward with indomitable momentum.
It pushed on until the Reiatsu contained within was completely annihilated and thoroughly dissipated.
Baraggan took a deep breath, thankful that he was currently in his Resurrección state with no flesh on his face, otherwise his majesty as the King of Hueco Mundo would have been completely swept away.
Having lived for an untold number of years, this was the first time he had seen an existence capable of rivaling this power of rotting and aging.
Fortunately, it was ultimately annihilated.
This also proved that all things in the world would eventually return to nothingness.
Only the supreme King of Hueco Mundo was the one true existence!
"Soul Reaper, do you think Kidō is exempt from 'aging'?"
Baraggan stood tall, looking down at Naraku Sora with arrogance, like a god bestowing a declaration of pity.
"Humans experience life and death; birds and beasts are the same, as are the grass and trees."
"Soul Reapers are naturally no exception, and all things that die must face 'aging'!"
Faced with this extremely arrogant posture, Naraku Sora smiled disdainfully.
"I am too lazy to listen to your flashy nonsense, and you are not worthy of speaking it."
"For gimmicks like this to work, they need to be backed by the corresponding stats."
"In my eyes, the power of aging that rots all things is indeed ridiculous, but at the end of the day, there are still abilities that can rival it."
"And all I have to do is crush it with stats you cannot even comprehend."
Baraggan's Reiatsu suddenly erupted. Although no change in expression could be seen, his agitated emotions could still be felt.
It was the subconscious anger born from having his proudest ability sneered at.
Not waiting for Baraggan to continue his nonsense, Naraku Sora immediately swung his sword in a vertical slash. The dazzling sword pressure, wrapped in leaping lightning, instantly crossed a distance of a hundred meters.
"A futile effort."
Baraggan sighed. The black tide symbolizing death materialized out of thin air, falling to cover the sword pressure.
The sword pressure, radiating blinding light, was annihilated by the black tide at a visible rate, instantly submerged in the endless flow of time.
Seeing the opponent's attack neutralized once again, Baraggan intended to throw out a few taunts, but the scene that unfolded next made the mocking words catch in his throat.
The tiny figure on the boundless wasteland raised the longsword in his hand once more. Circuit board-like patterns surfaced on the back of his hand, and shining arcs of electricity instantly spread across his entire body.
*Hum—*
The atmosphere trembled, the howling sound sharp and piercing.
Naraku Sora, who had just unleashed a wave of sword pressure, showed absolutely no intention of resting. Aiming at the surging black tide—
He slashed!
A sword pressure no inferior to the previous attack erupted once again. The slash, interwoven with lightning and fire, plowed through the earth and charged into the black tide like a moth darting into a flame.
Deafening roars echoed endlessly, continuous like an unending torrential rain, completely annihilating Baraggan's proud power of aging.
Naraku Sora's thought process was very simple.
If one slash did not work, then he would use two or three. It was nothing more than basic attacks and normal strikes anyway; was he really going to exhaust himself over that?
Baraggan's breath hitched as he watched helplessly while the black tide ahead was instantly wiped out.
In that split second, the Soul Reaper brat had unleashed countless slashes at an incredibly swift speed, forcefully grinding away the Breath of Death.
An unimagined path!
Looking at the black tide that had lasted for less than a second, Naraku Sora revealed a mocking smile. He lifted his ferocious mask and gazed at the burly figure standing tall in the sky.
The meaning behind it was self-evident.
Baraggan's breath caught, and surging fury ignited once more. He raised his pale skeletal hand high, pointing his finger bones straight at the sky as his turbulent Reiatsu erupted mightily.
This time, he would bring about ultimate death!
A tsunami-like power of aging gushed from his fingertips, transforming into a rolling black tide that swept toward Naraku Sora with devastating force.
Wherever it passed, the silver sand completely rotted away. Large voids appeared in the wasteland, and though the sand rushed in to fill them, it turned to nothingness the instant it touched the black tide.
Cancellation.
An ability that could almost be called unsolvable.
Naraku Sora met the ever-changing with the unchanging, maintaining the same frequency of slashes. The swings, condensed from high-density Reishi, were enough to counter the black tide, which was also composed of Reishi. In a sense, this could be considered a manifestation of Hanki.
It was just that the process was a little more tedious.
Watching helplessly as his ability was dismantled, Baraggan was like a helpless husband, only able to let out hysterical roars of anger.
But Naraku Sora did not give him the chance to vent. Searing flames condensed on the blade of his sword, and a towering pillar of fire exploded behind him, shooting straight into the sky.
Vajrayati burned to its absolute limit.
The next moment.
A pitch-black crescent swept across the sky, like a master of traditional painting splashing ink, leaving a heavy stroke of dark ink across the profound heavens.
Baraggan subconsciously activated his power of aging, but the black tide had only just begun to condense when the pitch-black slash arrived right in front of him.
There was no sound, nor were there any dazzling visual effects.
There was only the dead silence in which the power of aging was instantly erased.
Black Coffin.
Seeing that the small cluster of black tide could not withstand the slash, Baraggan did not dare to hesitate. He immediately activated Sonído, attempting to dodge the strike.
However, by not dodging immediately and instead trying to contest it, he had directly missed the optimal window to evade.
The pitch-black sword pressure swept past silently.
The purple robes symbolizing his status were instantly severed, and his arm bones, which were no less durable than Hierro, were forcefully sheared in half.
Intense agony overwhelmed Baraggan, making it difficult for him to control his body as he plummeted straight from the sky.
"Bastard!"
An angry roar echoed across the land of Hueco Mundo. Baraggan stood his ground, whipping up a surging Reishi storm around himself that continuously annihilated the sand.
"Die!"
Just as he was preparing to summon the endless power of aging once more, attempting to drown Naraku Sora alive with it.
A dark shadow streaked across the sky, crashing like a meteor between the two combatants and kicking up a wave of sand tens of meters high.
Naraku Sora focused his gaze and could not help but curl his lips into a grin.
'Isn't this the Hueco Mundo scientist who was mentally broken by a few words from my adopted son? I haven't seen him for a few days, how did he get so pathetic?'
When he saw the figure covered in blood and filth, with mangled limbs and looking utterly wretched, Baraggan suddenly fell silent, losing all of his previous arrogance.
Although he did not know Szayelaporro's true strength, the faint sense of danger he felt when interacting with him had already proven that this guy's power was absolutely no weaker than his own as the King of Hueco Mundo.
Yet, such a terrifying fellow had actually been beaten into this state.
Could it be that the Soul Reaper fighting him was the absolute main force behind this invasion of Las Noches?
Just as Baraggan was pondering this, a figure descended from the sky. A heavy, vast Reiatsu instantly blanketed the entire battlefield.
Seeing Aizen appear, Naraku Sora gave him a thumbs-up, praising him without hesitation:
"With Sōsuke by my side, I can rest completely easy!"
Aizen: "..."
Although he did not know what this guy was trying to express, his instincts told him it was nothing good.
At this moment, the heavily injured Szayelaporro struggled up from the ground, staring coldly at the two men regrouping in the distance.
In a direct confrontation, he was indeed no match.
He had exhausted all his strength just to barely escape from the opponent's hands and arrive at this battlefield. Now, it was time to turn the tide of the battle.
Several mangled tentacles extended from his back, suddenly spewing a massive amount of black liquid that directly covered the entire battlefield, blotting out the sky and the sun like dark clouds.
"Dankū."
Aizen, who had been keeping a close eye on Szayelaporro's movements, chanted softly. An invisible barrier generated out of thin air, towering in front of him like a majestic city wall.
The black liquid swept over, crashing against the Dankū barrier like a tidal wave and churning endlessly.
Although he could not determine what this substance was, based on his understanding of Szayelaporro, it was best not to touch it.
However, this action did not cause any change in Szayelaporro's expression.
He merely looked forward calmly, the corners of his bloodstained mouth curling up slightly.
"This is bad, Sōsuke."
Naraku Sora twitched his lips and looked into the distance. "I'm afraid this might be a bit tough to fight."
Following his gaze, Aizen looked over and could not help but be startled. He saw that the one enveloped by the black liquid was none other than the King of Hueco Mundo, whose spirit had been shattered by Naraku Sora.
Baraggan Louisenbairn!
The black liquid squirmed and splattered outward, landing on the sand where it frantically writhed and grew. In just a moment, six figures identical to Baraggan appeared on the battlefield.
Endless black tides surged...
---------------
Want more chapters? 50+ extra chapters are available on my Patreon:
patreon.com/Hard_Worker