Ginjō and Bubbles were locked in a love-hate battle.
What Ginjō could not understand was that every time one of his execution techniques tore scales from Bubbles, Bubbles would let out a sound that invited far too many inappropriate associations.
"Ginjō-san, I'm Yūko. Don't you remember me?"
Every time doubt began to arise in him, Bubbles' words made Ginjō throw his brain away. All he wanted was to beat Bubbles so badly that she could never make another sound again.
"Shut your mouth already!"
A blood-red crescent moon was swung out by Cross of Scaffold. This Getsuga Tenshō, combined with Cero, was Ginjō's trump card.
Tears of regret shattered into fragments in the night sky.
Ginjō could roughly guess what Tsunayoshi was doing. Although humans would not remember what happened tonight, the even more terrifying part was that the Seireitei had already gotten involved!
Ginjō could already imagine what kind of stories would spread through Soul Society after tonight.
The Two or Three Things That Had to Be Said About Ginjō-san and Yūko-chan?
Liking gossip did not mean he wanted to become the protagonist of gossip!
Thinking of this, Ginjō's slashes became even sharper. Large sheets of fish-like scales fell from Bubbles' body. It had to be said that Ginjō was indeed quite strong. Even when facing a Vasto Lorde-class Hollow, he showed no sign of falling behind.
Of course, Ginjō's favorable battle situation was something Bubbles had actively created. Bubbles was savoring Ginjō's scorching "love." After waves of seductive sounds echoed through the air, she made a decision.
"Ginjō-san, since you love me so much, let us be together forever!"
From her wounds, a large number of bubbles surged forth. Ginjō seized the opportunity and unleashed a Getsuga Tenshō, hoping that by breaking the bubbles, he could use their explosions to damage Bubbles.
An explosion did indeed occur.
But even more bubbles burst out from within the explosion. In the blink of an eye, they wrapped tightly around Ginjō.
Ginjō was about to struggle, but then he remembered the danger caused by exploding bubbles.
Now that he had fallen into this sea of bubbles, did he have any better method besides smashing them apart?
That brief hesitation caused Ginjō to lose the initiative. Swallowed by the bubbles, he became completely unable to move. Small bubbles combined into one large bubble, and Ginjō still ended up following in everyone else's footsteps, firmly locked inside.
The sea of bubbles recombined, and Bubbles appeared once again. The wounds Ginjō had caused earlier had all vanished.
She had been teasing Ginjō the entire time. As long as Ginjō was happy, that was enough.
She could turn into bubbles at any time, and she could also form her body from bubbles. All of it was a talent carried over from her time as a Disguiser Dragon.
Every wound Ginjō inflicted on her was, in Bubbles' eyes, Ginjō's love. Bubbles had originally thought that the two of them could continue dancing beneath the moonlight forever.
But she had underestimated her own possessiveness.
When desire continued swelling in her heart until she could no longer suppress her longing, she wanted to hold Ginjō completely in the palm of her hand.
The huge Western dragon hovered in the night sky. Around her were countless bubbles fluttering through the air, reflecting dazzling colors beneath the moonlight.
As the protagonist of this night, Bubbles did not look at any of the scenery.
All her attention was on the bubble in her palm—or rather, on the man inside the bubble who had offered her his sincere love.
"Ginjō's been captured. We can't keep watching anymore."
Tatsuki came to Tsunayoshi's side and nudged his elbow.
"It's not like I was just watching the show. Who knew Ginjō would be this useless?" Tsunayoshi really had not simply been slacking off. He had just finished giving instructions to the Seireitei and was putting away his phone.
"Hurry up and do something. Save Ginjō. He's our companion."
"By the way, if I interrupt this peaceful, beautiful scene, will Ginjō beat me up?" Tsunayoshi pretended to ponder.
"Stop messing around. After tonight, Ginjō will probably be socially dead. How would he have time to beat you up?" Tatsuki rejected the idea.
"That's true. Watch over those two. I'll be right back."
Tsunayoshi reached behind his back, preparing to draw his blade.
"Wait. You're planning to go alone? That's a Märchen!" Ninny was both worried and doubtful of Tsunayoshi's strength.
"We can provide support and restrain it!" Noel stated her resolve to fight even more directly.
"Relax. Rather than worrying about me, you should think about how you're going to write your report to your superiors once you get back."
Tsunayoshi waved lightly. A white Zanpakutō had already fallen into his hand.
"Should I call you Bubbles, or Miss Yūko? I'm sorry to disturb your alone time, but could you return my friend, Kūgo Ginjō, to me?"
Killing intent erupted directly from Tsunayoshi, shattering Bubbles' brief happiness.
Märchen or Hollow, it made no difference. From the moment the other party dragged innocent humans in Karakura Town into this disaster, Tsunayoshi had never intended to let her live.
A scarlet gaze shot straight out from Bubbles.
There really was a fool who dared to disturb her and Ginjō's private world!
However, Bubbles had no intention of personally attacking Tsunayoshi. Her palm was holding the person she loved most. How could she bear to bring him into battle against an enemy?
Repeating the same trick, a large number of bubbles drifted down from Bubbles and surrounded Tsunayoshi completely.
Bubbles did not even lift her eyelids. A trapped beast was not enough to shake the love between her and Ginjō.
Tsunayoshi sighed softly.
He had known it would not be easy to settle this. In the end, he still had to raise the intensity.
He held the white Zanpakutō horizontally in front of his chest.
"Soar through the heavens, White Dragon!"
The Zanpakutō split into two parts. The hilt transformed into a cluster of orange light and landed on Tsunayoshi's back, while the blade grew longer and longer, bending and twisting as more details appeared upon it.
The blade actually transformed into a long dragon.
An Eastern dragon.
A pair of white wings grew from Tsunayoshi's back. The wings radiated rainbow light. In the night, they were even more dazzling and captivating than the bubbles reflecting the moonlight.
A white Eastern dragon coiled around Tsunayoshi's shoulders, and a pair of wings spread from his back.
This was the Resurrección of the Sky attribute.
It was also the only Resurrección that did not require him to stab the Zanpakutō into his chest.
"What… is that?" Ninny murmured.
Although the changes to Tsunayoshi's body were not especially numerous, the pressure he emitted after completing the release was simply terrifying. Deep in Ninny's heart, she could not muster even the slightest thought of resisting him.
"So beautiful."
Unlike Ninny, Noel did not place her attention on Tsunayoshi's strength. After spending so many days with him, the concept that Tsunayoshi possessed overwhelming power had already been deeply branded into her mind. Besides, Tsunayoshi was their companion. Instead of focusing on his strength, she might as well focus on his appearance.
Tsunayoshi's suddenly intensified Reiatsu caused Bubbles to glance sideways slightly.
But only slightly.
The bubbles still pressed toward Tsunayoshi, as if he were not worth her attention.
Tsunayoshi saw every change in Bubbles' emotions. Unlike everyone else, as the wielder of the Sky attribute, these bubbles could not stop him at all.
A low dragon's roar sounded.
Along with the dragon's roar, Sky Flames, nearly invisible to the naked eye, spread outward.
The attribute of the Sky was Harmony.
The instant the bubbles touched the Sky Flames, they were affected by Sky's Harmony attribute. In the blink of an eye, all the bubbles around Tsunayoshi turned to stone.
To avoid news about stones raining from the sky, Tsunayoshi swept his hand and crushed all the stones into powder.
"Well then, let me see which is stronger: an Eastern dragon or a Western dragon."
Tsunayoshi raised his arm and pointed at Bubbles. The white dragon immediately rushed along the back of Tsunayoshi's hand toward Bubbles.
The natural pressure emitted by the white dragon restored a little clarity to Bubbles' love-addled mind. Even more bubbles squeezed out from Bubbles' body. Bubbles intended to use sheer numbers against Tsunayoshi.
However, the white dragon merely let out a calm, low chant, and Bubbles was instantly covered in stone powder.
Only then did Bubbles finally take her opponent seriously. She immediately flapped her wings and tangled with the white dragon.
Dragon claws clashed against dragon claws.
Bodies collided against bodies.
At the same time, she had to remain on guard against the Sky Flames the opponent released.
For the first time, Bubbles felt that this was troublesome.
The Sky Flames prevented her from displaying her full strength. And those bubbles that had already turned gray-black—Sky's Harmony attribute had directly devoured the techniques Bubbles released.
Lastly, there was the person in her hand.
Because she was holding Ginjō, Bubbles could not freely fight the white dragon.
Was this how Ginjō had felt earlier, restrained at every turn?
"That's… a dragon? Tsunayoshi is a dragon?" Ninny was so shocked that she did not know what to say.
"To be precise, it is the supreme totem of an ancient Eastern nation. Sawada Tsunayoshi, are you a human or a Hollow?"
After experiencing the Disguiser Dragon incident, Noel no longer dared to trust appearances. Judging purely from the terrifying energy she sensed from Tsunayoshi, Noel concluded that Tsunayoshi was probably a humanoid dragon!
"Tsunayoshi has always been human," Tatsuki explained with a smile.
She knew that the two of them had never witnessed Hollowfication before.
"Tsunayoshi's current state uses Hollow power, so from the perspective of Reiatsu, he looks more like a Hollow."
"Using Hollow power? You mean a Dragonclad?" Ninny asked, a flash of inspiration striking her.
"A Dragon Knight?" Noel asked.
As a witch with very solid foundational knowledge, she had never heard this term before.
"Legend says that powerful mages always have a dragon companion by their side. Most people can only cooperate with their dragons in battle."
"But a very small number of mages can achieve high-frequency resonance with their dragon partners, allowing them to fuse with the dragon and unleash even greater power."
"After this type of mage fuses, dragon characteristics appear on the surface of their body—wings, claws, tails, and so on. They look as if they've equipped a dragon as a weapon, so people call them Dragonclad!"
"Why have I never heard of this?" Noel remained skeptical.
She had passed with high marks when becoming a witch. Her relevant knowledge should not be worse than Ninny's, who had barely scraped by.
"That's why I'm your senpai!" Ninny once again declared solemnly.
"This counts as an open secret. Deep on the third floor of the library, there are fragments of all sorts of secret records. The story of Dragonclad is recorded there."
Once Ninny said that, Noel understood.
The innermost bookshelves on the third floor of the library were full of all kinds of strange tales and supernatural stories. Countless magic apprentices who skipped class had sat there imagining themselves becoming the protagonists of those stories.
"So you read it while skipping class?"
"Shut up!"
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