"Since you've already defeated that piece of trash, I don't need to waste any more time testing you." After his Resurrección, Nnoitra had twin horns like crescent moons atop his head, and the armor on his four arms resembled an insect's exoskeleton. He gripped four long-handled Kamas. "You'd better not disappoint me..."
Muten Natsu spread his arms. "Bankai..."
"Muten!" Rukia Kuchiki called out anxiously, wanting to stop him, but the words caught in her throat.
Muten Natsu had already devoured Bankai twice today, and the second had been the Rin'en Bokukō set ablaze by the Flames of Karma.
Forcing his body to contain power beyond his control again and again placed an enormous burden on him.
Even with Orihime Inoue's healing, it was asking too much.
But Rukia Kuchiki could not stop him.
The battle against the 6th Espada had already been so difficult, let alone the 5th Espada standing before them now.
The enemy was too powerful. Right now, the only one who could fight him was Muten Natsu.
Restless spiritual ink overflowed from his body. Muten Natsu manipulated it, releasing a binding that wrapped around Nnoitra layer upon layer. "Rin'en Bokukō!"
A piercing cry rang out as the ferocious Rin'en Bokukō thrust its head from the waterfall of spiritual ink and bit toward Nnoitra.
"Hmph..." Nnoitra sneered. "With a move like that?"
A burst of Reiatsu shattered every restraint, and Nnoitra vanished from where he stood.
Realizing the attack would not hit, Muten Natsu immediately released the Hell Flames, intending to ignite and devour the Rin'en Bokukō.
But flashes of cold light crossed in the air. Four Kamas swept from above and below, shredding the Rin'en Bokukō completely and scattering it into black rain across the sky.
A savage figure closed in through the black rain, the Kamas in his hands gleaming coldly as they slashed down.
Ink spread in front of Muten Natsu, blocking the first Kama, only to be smashed apart by the second.
The third Kama struck Muten Natsu's body, opening a torn wound that stretched from his left shoulder to his right waist.
Muten Natsu was sent flying backward, but the fourth Kama hooked him and dragged him toward Nnoitra.
"Desgarrón!" Muten Natsu released his Spirit Weapon. A pitch-black severed hand appeared at his side, tearing a black trail through the air.
"Using the same useless trick twice?" Nnoitra swung his Kama and shredded the black trail, then cleaved apart the black severed hand floating beside Muten Natsu.
Another Kama pressed over the one that had hooked Muten Natsu. As Nnoitra swung both arms, the crossed Kama blades closed like scissors, about to cut Muten Natsu in two.
Ink erupted, bracing against the closing blades.
Muten Natsu swung Myōki and broke free from the blades. A terrifyingly sharp arc of light flashed. Ink Fortress Flash!
Both Kamas shattered at once. In the next instant, Muten Natsu closed in and brought his blade down.
"Good!" Nnoitra caught Myōki between two Kamas. His other two empty hands lifted slightly, and new Kamas sprang from his wrists into his grip, curving around from behind toward Muten Natsu. "A blade with an inward curve is hard to pull back."
Kamas also had inward-curving blades, so Nnoitra knew exactly where Myōki was weakest when it came to withdrawing and recovering a strike.
When an outward-curving blade failed to cut through, continuing the swing could still carve through with the blade's curve.
But an inward-curving blade would get stuck.
Nnoitra held Myōki down, refusing to let it break free.
Muten Natsu followed the force, raising the blade upward and letting it swing behind him before releasing his grip.
The Kamas closed in from behind. Ink Fortress activated, and ink blocked the first strike, only to be cut apart by the second Kama.
Muten Natsu caught Myōki behind him with his left hand in a reverse grip, blocking the second Kama's attack.
Spiritual ink surged from the blade and bound Myōki.
In the next moment, the blade broke free. With the swing of Muten Natsu's arm, a fierce flash of cold light bloomed and severed Nnoitra's two left arms.
Blood sprayed as the Flames of Karma burned fiercely, melting the two severed arms into pitch-black severed hands. Blades sprang from their wrists and pinned down the Kamas in Nnoitra's two right hands.
Muten Natsu gripped his blade with both hands and brought it straight down.
Pfft!
One hand reached up and stopped Myōki, while another pierced through Muten Natsu's shoulder.
"Pretty quick reactions. You actually avoided your vitals." Nnoitra withdrew his bloodstained hand. "Even though you didn't know I had six hands."
Nnoitra, who had already possessed four hands, had grown two more, and the two arms Muten Natsu had cut off had regenerated in an instant.
Rukia Kuchiki swung her katana, releasing a surge of cold air. "Tsugi no mai, Hakuren!"
"Please don't..." Tesra swung his sword and released Reiatsu, dispersing the cold air. "Disturb Nnoitra-sama."
"This is over!" Nnoitra swung all six Kamas at Muten Natsu at once. "Die!"
"Shiten Kōshun..." Orihime Inoue raised her hand. "I reject!"
A golden triangular barrier enveloped Muten Natsu. The instant the six Kamas touched it, a terrifying force erupted and blasted Nnoitra backward.
"Hm? Right, there's still you." Nnoitra turned toward Orihime Inoue. "I've been meaning to ask you. Is this the Shinigami you couldn't stop thinking about? Doesn't seem very useful."
Orihime Inoue had no idea what he meant. She released Sōten Kisshun to heal Muten Natsu, but Nnoitra smashed it apart with a single swing of his Kama.
"Answer me, Nell!" Nnoitra's smile was icy. "Or does your broken mask hurt so much you can't speak?"
Muten Natsu staggered to his feet. "You know her?"
"What... You mean you don't?" Nnoitra pointed at the trembling Nell. "This thing is Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, former 3rd Espada! Did you really think she was just a child?"
"No... No..." Nell's terrified eyes were filled with confusion. "Nell isn't an Espada... How could Nell be an Espada..."
"A former Espada pretending to be weak so she can deceive a Shinigami." Nnoitra raised his Kama with a look of disgust. "The way you are now makes me sick."
"Nell didn't forget..." Nell watched helplessly as the Kama drew closer. "Nell didn't..."
Clang!
Muten Natsu stood in front of Nell, raising Myōki to block the Kama. Blood sprayed from the wound in his shoulder.
"Muten..." Nell's voice trembled with tears as she stared at Muten Natsu's back, her eyes brimming. "Nell didn't lie to Muten... Nell really didn't..."
"I know." Muten Natsu gripped Myōki tightly with both hands. "I don't need anyone else to tell me who you are."
"Muten..." Tears spilled uncontrollably from Nell's eyes, running down her dirty little face.
"Nnoitra..." Muten Natsu raised his gaze. "I heard you and Szayelaporro killed Nelliel."
"Ah, yes, that did happen." Nnoitra rolled his eyes as he thought back. "Only after I smashed her head and threw her out of Las Noches, she turned into a brat. What was it Szayelaporro said again? Something about Reiatsu leaking from the wound in her mask and causing the Soul itself to contract... I suppose her memories slipped out around then too."
His gaze shifted. "Your head looks like it'd be easy to smash."
The Kama fell, but the golden Shiten Kōshun appeared first and deflected Nnoitra's attack.
"Tesra!" Nnoitra snapped. "What are you doing? You're letting them interrupt me over and over again!"
"My deepest apologies, Nnoitra-sama. I will eliminate all of them at once." Tesra swung his katana and knocked aside Rukia Kuchiki's attack. "Take her down, Crush, Verruga!"
The delicate-looking Tesra suddenly swelled into a burly giant. The mask on his face resembled a wild boar, with stark white tusks curving upward, their sharp tips gleaming coldly.
He adjusted his angle, bent his body, and dug at the white sand, apparently intending to charge straight through and send both Rukia Kuchiki and Orihime Inoue flying along the same path.
"It's enough to know she's still alive." Muten Natsu's calm voice overlapped with a brutal roar. "Now you can die."
Icy Karmic Fire swallowed his left arm, blazing fiercely. In the next instant, it abruptly contracted, condensing into the shape of an arm. Through the translucent flesh, the black bones inside were faintly visible.
Nnoitra's pupils shrank sharply. "Don't move! Tesra!"
Boom!
The instant Tesra charged, Muten Natsu's left arm of Karmic Fire suddenly stretched out and clamped around Tesra's head.
Pitch-black flames engulfed Tesra in an instant, devouring his flesh and blood.
Nnoitra raised his Kama and swung it at the Karmic Fire arm, but the arm had already retracted a split second earlier, dragging Tesra to Muten Natsu's side.
When Nnoitra turned to look, he saw the shattered bones melting in the Karmic Fire, forming two sharp fangs.
Muten Natsu gave a light wave of his hand. The pitch-black fangs shot out with a fierce gust of wind, struck Nnoitra's body, sent him flying backward, and pinned him to the tower.
"Muten Natsu!!!" Nnoitra crushed the black fangs in his grip. The wounds piercing through his body healed at incredible speed. His six arms spread wide, each gripping a Kama, as he dove down like a terrifying mantis.
The jaw of the deathly white skull mask shifted, and from the mouth beneath it, Muten Natsu slowly exhaled a wisp of black flame. Then he leaped up and swung his katana to meet the attack.
Before they even closed the distance, Muten Natsu extended his Karmic Fire arm first, reaching for Nnoitra.
Nnoitra swung his Kama and knocked the Karmic Fire arm aside, then swept three Kamas across like a fan.
Muten Natsu struck one of the Kamas with his katana and used the recoil to leap higher. His palm of Karmic Fire brushed over Myōki, and the flames clung to the blade before separating from it with his slash.
Nnoitra shifted sideways. The tower behind him split open on a diagonal, the cut surface unnaturally smooth.
A Kama embedded itself in the tower, yanking up the top before it could fall and hurling it straight at Muten Natsu.
Muten Natsu cut through the tower's tip with a single slash. The cold gleam of six Kamas reflected in his eyes. His Karmic Fire arm writhed and changed shape, the arm thinning while the palm swelled, spreading open upward to seize Nnoitra and slam him into the ground.
Bang!
White sand flew into the air. Muten Natsu gripped Myōki in a reverse hold, broke through the sand, and plunged straight down.
Nnoitra opened his mouth. His tongue, engraved with the number [5], stretched out, and yellow light gathered at its tip before erupting with a thunderous roar.
The torrent of yellow Reishi crashed into Muten Natsu, only to be blocked by the Karmic Fire arm.
Muten Natsu tore through Nnoitra's Cero by force and sliced off half of Nnoitra's shoulder with one strike.
The severed arm that left Nnoitra along with his shoulder was burned to nothing by the Karmic Fire in the next instant. The flames on Muten Natsu's left arm burned even brighter, climbing over his shoulder and spreading toward his chest.
Three Kamas hooked into Muten Natsu's body and flung him away.
Nnoitra's arm regenerated rapidly, mockery surfacing in his single eye. "Looks like that isn't a power you can use whenever you want. It's eating away at your body!"
"It's a power that does serious damage to me, so I'd rather not use it if I can avoid it." Muten Natsu glanced at his shoulder. "But if hurting myself means I can drag the bastard who hurt me into Hell... isn't that amazing?"
"That assumes..." Nnoitra grinned viciously and swung his Kamas. Six cold arcs of light rushed toward him. "You can actually do it!"
Muten Natsu gripped Myōki's blade with his burning left hand and shifted slightly to the side. The Karmic Fire arm went out for a brief instant, then flared violently the moment the katana flashed.
A deep, pitch-black arc severed all six Kamas, along with the six arms Nnoitra had raised in front of him to block. Icy Karmic Fire wrapped around the severed arms and set them ablaze.
Nnoitra's single eye flew wide open. The severed arms shattered in front of him, merging with the yellow radiance at the tip of his tongue and blooming into a jagged, twisted band of light that warped the space around it. "Gran Rey Cero!"
The flash, fused with the flesh, blood, and Reishi of his six arms, tore through the air with a screaming gale. Amid a sound like countless ghosts wailing, it slammed into Muten Natsu's body, crushed him without restraint, and exploded with a thunderous roar.
A terrifying shockwave swept up the white sand and obliterated it, rolling outward as it scattered the broken walls and ruins.
Orihime Inoue had no choice but to unleash Santen Kesshun to defend herself, shielding Rukia Kuchiki and Nell beside her.
Fragments of stone skimmed past the golden barrier and riddled the tower behind them with holes.
"Muten..." Rukia Kuchiki stared at Muten Natsu in the distance. She watched him stand up from the deep crater, the nearly vanished Karmic Fire of his left arm solidifying again as his shoulder burned.
"Muten's shoulder..." Nell could almost see Muten Natsu's collarbone being consumed by the Karmic Fire. "Muten's body is disappearing..."
"Rukia," Orihime Inoue said helplessly, looking at Rukia Kuchiki beside her. "What do we do?"
"We..." Rukia Kuchiki's lips trembled as she struggled to speak, her voice faint. "I... can't do anything..."
Decades had passed, and Rukia Kuchiki felt as though she had finally gained some strength.
But now, just like back then, all she could do was watch helplessly as Muten Natsu fought for his life.
She had worked so hard for so long just so she could help him...
And now she still could not do a thing.
"How can this be..." Nell clenched her small fists, her eyes searching for Muten Natsu. "This can't happen..."
Muten Natsu and Nnoitra were moving too fast. Nell could only see the afterimages left behind where they collided.
She could not even see them clearly, let alone help Muten Natsu.
If this kept up, Muten Natsu would die.
"Muten..." Nell's eyes wavered as she chased Muten Natsu's figure.
"Muten..." Nell's gaze focused, and she saw the Karmic Fire licking at Muten Natsu's heart.
"Muten..." Tears blurred everything before Nell's eyes. Muten Natsu's broken body overlapped with the stubborn young boy in her memories.
"Muten!!!"