Ice-blue flames instantly spread across the entire battlefield, centered on Tsunayoshi as they enveloped everything around and behind him.
In that instant, even the air seemed to freeze. That was the freezing property of Glacier Flames. Even the air itself was instantly frozen. Cracking sounds rang out—the sound produced as the Glacier Flames hardened.
Under the illumination of the terrifying flames swung out by the fake Yamamoto, dazzling seven-colored light reflected around Tsunayoshi. It would be complicated to describe, but in truth, it had happened in only an instant. Tsunayoshi had used Glacier Flames to construct a castle around himself.
Unlike the ice produced when Rain-attribute Flames were hardened to a high concentration, Glacier Flames were flames that inherently contained the power of ice. After being hardened to an extreme degree, they actually underwent a fundamental transformation.
Highly hardened Glacier Flames reflected a diamond-like luster, and their toughness approached that of actual diamond. Because of this, aside from possessing the property of freezing, Glacier Flames also had the highest defensive power among the Seven Flames of the Earth.
The strongest defensive technique constructed from the Seven Flames of the Earth was called Diamond Castle.
This was a divine defensive technique said to be capable of deflecting even Vongola Decimo's signature ultimate move, X-Burner. Unfortunately, there was no time for anyone to admire its magnificent appearance. Gōka no Ken had already arrived.
In an instant, fiery red and icy blue split the Nest of Maggots in two. The collision between scorching heat and polar cold reached its peak in that moment. Reiatsu scattered from the clash and flew into every corner of the Nest of Maggots. Even the lucky survivors who had somehow remained alive could not escape such a terrifying environment.
Hiding behind the fake Yamamoto, Inaba could not help feeling relieved. Amid Gōka no Ken's attack, the only safe place in the Nest of Maggots was probably behind the fake Yamamoto, where he and the ritual behind him stood. Had he taken even one wrong step, he might have been burned to death by Gōka no Ken as well.
Those people on the other side should be dead, right?
Inaba wiped the sweat dripping down his forehead. This scorching environment was truly uncomfortable. He rotated Raikū and released the fake Yamamoto. A refreshing coolness immediately brushed against his face.
Where did this cool breeze come from?
A glimmer of light flashed into Inaba's eyes. Looking over, he saw that in the place where Tsunayoshi Sawada and the others had originally stood, a gigantic ice castle now filled the Nest of Maggots.
Although the castle looked somewhat battered and broken, it still stood firm, showing no signs that it would collapse anytime soon.
When he focused his gaze, Inaba's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. He could not believe what he was seeing. Inside that damaged castle, Tsunayoshi Sawada's group was actually hiding completely unharmed.
Standing at the very front, Tsunayoshi now had a pair of three-clawed arm blades on his arms. The main bodies of the blades resembled Duel Disks from Yu-Gi-Oh!, and from each of those disk-like structures extended three sharp claws. These were the exclusive weapons formed when using Glacier Flames.
Diamond Castle opened.
Seeing Tsunayoshi and the others walk out unharmed, Inaba's face twitched constantly. Even the strongest move in his hand had failed to take them down. What was he supposed to do next?
Inaba could not help regretting it a little. Had he known, he would not have stopped the fake Yamamoto's attack so quickly. Sweating a little was not something he could not endure.
The techniques sealed by Inaba could not be reused infinitely. Each sealed space could only be used once. In other words, the longer the battle went on, the fewer trump cards he would have left.
The moment Tsunayoshi and the others came out, Inaba grew anxious. The Zanpakutō in his hand spun repeatedly, and sealed spaces appeared one after another. Captains emerged from those spaces one by one.
Inaba could no longer slowly play around with one technique after another. He had to release most of the sealed spaces at the same time in order to seize back the initiative.
The ritual behind him was still ongoing. This time, it was Inaba's turn to attack proactively. He did not want Tsunayoshi and the others to bypass him and destroy the ritual. He had to pin all these unlawful intruders down.
Tsunayoshi's side also began moving.
With a cry of "Bankai!" Ichigo drew Tensa Zangetsu and charged toward the fake Kenpachi Zaraki who had appeared from a sealed space, slashing at him together with a Getsuga Tenshō.
Uryū also activated his incomplete Vollständig and attacked the golden Ashisogi Jizō, the opponent he was most familiar with. Chad transformed his Right Arm of the Giant into a shield and charged forward while enduring the fake Kyōraku's Bushōgoma.
Meanwhile, the most agile among them, Yoruichi, went after the slowest-moving opponent: Komamura and his Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō.
Everyone's thoughts were clear. They would find the enemies they were most familiar with, block or defeat their attacks, and then flash toward the ritual behind Inaba as quickly as possible.
Lightning coiled around the tip of a blade. It was the fake Sasakibe, who had wrapped Kōkō Gonryō Rikyū around his Zanpakutō and was charging toward Tsunayoshi.
Tsunayoshi did not even look at the fake Sasakibe's attack. The solid ice beneath his feet extended toward Sasakibe, forming an ice-blue path.
On the ice road, one ice figure after another stood up, each bearing a seventy-percent resemblance to Tsunayoshi. In their hands were weapons formed from ice. If the fake Sasakibe wanted to reach Tsunayoshi, he would first have to break through this squad of ice figures.
Clearly, Sasakibe in the past could not do that. As long as someone obstructed his attack path, the fake Sasakibe's accuracy would fail. This was also why he could only rely on sneak attacks.
Tsunayoshi's full attention was fixed on the final circle drawn by Inaba. No captain emerged from that pitch-black sealed space, but Tsunayoshi's Hyper Intuition told him that what lay inside was extremely dangerous.
A sharp brass-colored warhead emerged from the space. Although its full form had not yet appeared, Tsunayoshi could already guess what technique it was.
"Everyone, listen up! Withdraw immediately!"
The situation was urgent, and Tsunayoshi shouted without the slightest hesitation. The Glacier Flames on his body also switched to the power of Earth Flames.
There was only one reason Tsunayoshi's expression would change so drastically: Inaba's next attack was absolutely not simple.
A Shinigami's Bankai was usually an enlarged extension of the power of their Shikai. However, there were exceptions where the form of the Bankai was completely opposite to the Shikai. Among them, Suì-Fēng's Zanpakutō was the most obvious example.
In its Shikai state, Suì-Fēng's blade was merely a finger blade. After Bankai, one of Suì-Fēng's arms was completely assimilated by her Zanpakutō, transforming into a missile larger than she was. This was the Bankai known as Jakuhō Raikōben.
A Bankai that could only attack once contained all of Suì-Fēng's Reiatsu. The cloud produced after the missile exploded was no different from a mushroom cloud. This Bankai was practically a human-shaped nuclear bomb.
No wonder no copy had appeared from that sealed space. This should have been a technique the fake Suì-Fēng fired from long range before being sealed into the space by Inaba.
After Tsunayoshi shouted, Ichigo and the others froze in their movements. While blocking attacks, they did not immediately retreat. Meanwhile, Jakuhō Raikōben had already flown out, heading directly toward the middle of Ichigo and the others.
Inaba intended to wipe them all out in one strike.
Fortunately, at the same time Tsunayoshi shouted, he had already switched to the Earth attribute. A small sphere flew out from his palm and shot toward the ceiling of the Nest of Maggots.
The small sphere swelled larger and larger along the way. By the time it reached the top of the Nest of Maggots, it had already become a massive sphere over ten meters in diameter. Only then was its true appearance revealed.
It looked exactly like a planet.
Gravity spread from the planet. Under Tsunayoshi's control, it began attracting the fired Jakuhō Raikōben.
The sudden external force prevented Jakuhō Raikōben from continuing along its original trajectory. Instead, it traced a beautiful arc through the air and flew toward the planet releasing increasingly powerful gravity.
Only then did Ichigo and the others react, immediately regrouping in Tsunayoshi's direction.
Inaba's expression turned ashen. Since that space had only sealed Jakuhō Raikōben, he had no way to control its flight path. He could only watch helplessly as Jakuhō Raikōben deviated from its course.
Jakuhō Raikōben circled once around the planet. In the end, it was still pulled in by the planet's gravity and crashed into it.
Light traveled faster than sound. Immediately after came the violent Reiatsu, and only last did the roar of the explosion arrive.
With a thunderous boom, an explosion that echoed throughout the Seireitei spread outward from the Nest of Maggots. A beautiful mushroom cloud rose from within the prison.
The moment Jakuhō Raikōben exploded, the Nest of Maggots could be said to have ceased existing in name only. The entire ceiling had been blown open, and a vast area had been affected by the Reiatsu wave after the explosion. The only two intact areas were where Tsunayoshi and Inaba stood.
Above Tsunayoshi and the others, another planet blocked the front. Aside from defense, it could also use gravity to attract and absorb fragments produced by the aftermath of the explosion.
Looking over at Inaba's side, at the critical moment, he had released the fake Hachigen. An invisible barrier covered in spiderweb-like cracks stood before him.
It was Dankū, released by the fake Hachigen.
Fortunately, when sealing Jakuhō Raikōben, Inaba had already made ample defensive preparations. Otherwise, he might truly have been injured by this strike as well.
It did not matter if he himself was wounded, but he could not allow any problem to occur with the ritual.
Without leaving a trace, Inaba glanced behind him. Soon. The fake Nemu's preparations had reached the final stage. It was time for him to hold on through this final moment.
Raikū spun again.
Snowflakes drifted out from a black space. A pink wave appeared once more, carrying with it poisonous gas drifting out from another space. A trace of heat seemed to begin spreading along the cherry blossoms.
Hyōten Hyakkasō.
Senkei: Senbonzakura Kageyoshi.
Ashisogi Jizō's poison gas.
And the flames originating from Gōka no Ken.
Inaba opened four spaces in one breath. Every single space contained a powerful wide-area attack. These techniques could be said to be his final trump cards. Inaba no longer cared. As long as the ritual was completed, it did not matter whether he died or not.
This time, Inaba did not attack proactively. Instead, he made all these techniques surround the ritual, providing it with a natural barrier.
"Come on! If you don't care about your lives, try it! You know better than I do how powerful these techniques are!"
Inaba laughed wildly while delivering what sounded like a victory speech.
Was it truly victory?
Inaba glanced at Nozomi Kujō. In the end, he still had not managed to fuse with her. His madness at this moment was merely an attempt to make himself appear less lonely in the final moments of his life.
However, what Inaba did not expect was that even in the face of such intense defensive measures, Tsunayoshi still acted without hesitation.
Four planets the size of grains of rice were thrown from his hand, landing at the four corners of the ritual.
All they needed to do was provide a path for Yoruichi to charge in and destroy the ritual.
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