"What's this? Is that all you've got? Put some more effort into it!"
—Thud!
Furofushi's knee slammed into Ichigo's abdomen.
Ichigo was sent flying pathetically, barely coming to a halt by scraping the ground with a Reishi foothold.
"Ugh..."
Thanks to Blut Vene, he hadn't suffered internal injuries, but the sheer impact was transmitted directly through his body.
'...I can't react. How is she so fast?'
Ichigo bit his lip as he stared at the monster before him.
For a while now, he had been unable to properly capture Furofushi's movements, doing nothing but taking hits.
He was merely minimizing damage by relying on Blut; he hadn't even been able to attempt a proper attack against her.
The situation was clearly disadvantageous for Ichigo.
"That again? The hardening thing?"
Furofushi let out a sneer, twirling her sword.
Every time she took a step forward, treading on Reishi footholds in the air, a suffocating bloodlust tightened around Ichigo's throat.
"You think you can make me scream with just that? Dream on."
"...That might be a bit difficult."
Ichigo's expression hardened as he tightened his grip on his Heilig Bogen.
'The only way to break through this situation is...'
He couldn't hope for help.
Everyone was fighting their own desperate battles. He had to break through this monster entirely on his own.
'...! Here she comes!'
Furofushi's figure blurred.
Ichigo hurriedly retreated while drawing his bowstring, but Furofushi was already right in front of him.
She lightly swatted the arm holding his bow to throw off his trajectory, then immediately swung her sword toward Ichigo's shoulder.
—Skreeeech!
"Guh...!"
Even though he had activated Blut Vene, her sword pierced through it.
The blade minutely broke the skin, threatening to dig in and tear through his flesh.
"Ooh, the others were sliced like tofu. You're a bit tough, aren't you?"
While Furofushi was marveling at this, Ichigo twisted the arm she was holding and instead grabbed her arm firmly.
With his other hand, he transformed the Heilig Pfeil he was holding into a Spirit Weapon in the shape of a sword made of blue shimmering haze.
"Wow, changing it like that is—"
In that instant, Ichigo thrust his arm upward, swinging the sword toward Furofushi's chin.
However, the tip of the blade stopped just before reaching her chin.
It was because Ichigo's Reiatsu could not pierce through hers.
"...Wh-what...?"
"...This is quite disappointing."
Her expression cooling slightly, she violently pulled Ichigo's arm and twisted her waist.
Her leg swept in from the outside, aimed straight for Ichigo's elbow.
'...! Blut...!'
—Crack!
"Guaaaagh...!!!"
"You're too weak, mister."
Furofushi snapped Ichigo's arm and immediately slammed him toward the ground.
Forced into a crash landing, Ichigo trembled as he tried to slowly pick himself up, but his joints screamed and refused to move.
"Your Reiatsu seemed quite strong, so I had high expectations, but you can't even use your spiritual power properly? How pathetic."
"......"
Ichigo staggered as he looked up at Furofushi, who was slowly walking down from the sky.
A Quincy is a being that manipulates external Reishi.
Even if one had a large amount of spiritual power, it only made manipulating Reishi easier or allowed for making Reishi harder and stronger; it didn't go beyond that.
Unlike Soul Reapers, who engage in direct combat using the spiritual power inherent in their bodies, there was no absolute correlation between a Quincy's spiritual power reserves and their strength.
"If you were a Soul Reaper, you might have been quite strong. Too bad, right?"
"...Shut up."
Ichigo stood up while clutching his throbbing left arm.
Because he had used Blut excessively for a long time against an opponent who was far too strong, his stamina had decreased significantly.
After finishing an emergency treatment by wrapping Reishi around his arm, Ichigo manifested his Spirit Weapon again and aimed it at Furofushi.
At that sight, the corners of Furofushi's mouth curled up in satisfaction.
Her madness began to flare up once more.
.
.
.
"Is it here?"
On the outskirts, where the noise of the battlefield could be heard faintly.
Haschwalth muttered softly as he checked the note in his hand.
He immediately placed his hand on the ground, and a darkness deeper than any shadow began to spread from his fingertips.
He thought he could hear the screams of his kin from afar, but he kept his eyes closed and silently focused on his current task.
He was currently carrying out the Emperor's command.
.
.
.
"Shall we end the playtime now? You look pretty exhausted. I'm telling you, I'll make it quick."
"It's not... over yet..."
Ichigo panted, using his sword as a cane, stabbing it into the ground to support himself and find his balance.
His uniform was stained red with blood, and there wasn't a single spot on him that was intact.
Furofushi rested her sword on her shoulder with a bored expression.
"What are you talking about? I don't care about your opinion. I'm just bored."
As she spoke, her sword flew toward Ichigo's neck this time.
She fully intended to kill him for real.
But once again, the blue vascular patterns repelled the sword.
"...Tch."
Looking annoyed now, she swung the flat of her blade against Ichigo's side like a baseball bat.
"Cough..."
Ichigo tumbled across the dirt floor.
Furofushi strode over and began to stomp mercilessly on Ichigo's fallen body.
"Just!! Die!! Stop being such an eyesore!!"
After kicking Ichigo as if to vent her frustration, she turned away, seemingly having lost interest.
It seemed better to go kill other Quincies than to keep dealing with him.
Just as she was moving toward a nearby Quincy, something flew at her from behind.
"..."
Without even looking back, she tilted her head to the side to dodge the arrow. She turned around, gritting her teeth.
There stood Ichigo, his body connected to bundles of Reishi threads, holding his bow and standing upright.
"...What is that?"
"...It's Ransōtengai. Right now, I don't have the strength to move my body on my own."
As the strings connected to Ichigo's arm slowly pulled back, the bowstring he was holding grew taut.
"So, I'm controlling my body directly with Reishi."
"....Why are you struggling so hard? You're going to die anyway."
She tilted her head with an expression of incomprehension.
Ichigo swallowed hard and activated Blut Arterie.
Red spiritual energy flowed through his entire body.
"...You'll never understand. This is the pride of a Quincy."
As Ichigo's fingertips released the bowstring, Licht Regen—countless arrows—were fired toward Furofushi.
"...I'm not interested in things like pride."
Saying that, she lightly released her Reiatsu, crushing the arrows to dust.
"Let's see how long that lasts."
Adjusting her grip on her sword, she began to approach Ichigo once more.
'As expected, it's impossible in this state.'
The state of the Reishi he had barely gathered was far too unstable.
Furofushi's Reiatsu was powerful, but if it had been an arrow fired by Ichigo at full condition, it wouldn't have been blocked so easily.
"......"
Ichigo wiped the blood flowing from his mouth and glanced around.
Quincy corpses were scattered everywhere, and the number of Soul Reaper corpses was also growing significantly.
The Schutzstaffel were also struggling, and Bazz-B, the other major instructors, and the Grandmasters were nowhere to be seen.
Some surviving Quincies were fighting for their lives against Soul Reapers with faces full of terror, while others were being torn limb from limb by the Captains.
Yhwach was engaged in a fierce battle alone against Yamamoto.
"..Your Majesty."
Ichigo quietly clenched his fist.
The Emperor was fighting with all his might; he couldn't allow himself to die so easily.
'If I don't take down at least one Captain...'
He wouldn't be able to face the other Quincies in the afterlife.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
As Ichigo slowly began to pull off the glove on his left hand, she paused and watched his actions.
Her intuition was screaming that she shouldn't just stand there and watch him take off that glove.
"...What else?"
Ichigo gave a faint smile with his bloodied lips.
"I'm going to hear you scream now."
"...!!"
In that moment, Ichigo cast aside the Sanrei Glove.
The world was dyed white.
.
.
.
"You keep looking away, Yhwach."
Yamamoto spoke sharply as he shook off the flames of Ryujin Jakka. The battle between the two monsters had been neck-and-neck from the start.
However, Yhwach kept turning his gaze elsewhere.
"Are you calling it 'looking away' when a father watches his son's achievement?"
"....How foolish. To think you would drag your own child onto the battlefield."
Saying that, Yamamoto kicked off the ground and charged at Yhwach, and Yhwach charged back, their swords clashing.
Flames and Reishi rubbed against each other, emitting powerful wind pressure.
"There is no need to worry, Shigekuni Yamamoto Genryusai."
Yhwach laughed while staring over Yamamoto's shoulder as their blades remained locked.
"Now, that boy is stronger than you."
"What..."
Just as Yamamoto was dumbfounded by such an absurd statement, a Reiatsu beyond imagination exploded behind his back.
"...!!"
"Has it begun? The 'Perfected Quincy'."
Yhwach smiled and instantly swung his sword toward Yamamoto's chin. Yamamoto immediately tilted his head back to dodge the blade and retreated.
When Yamamoto hurriedly turned around, an unbelievable sight unfolded before him.
The buildings of the Seireitei, the ground, and all the Reishi in the atmosphere were being torn away, swirling and being sucked toward a single point.
.
.
.
"What is this..."
Furofushi Saito stared blankly at the scene before her, blocking the wind pressure emitted from the Quincy in front of her with one hand.
Behind Ichigo's back, a massive amount of Reishi gathered to form giant wings.
The wounds on his body were being rapidly healed as Reishi wrapped around him like a suit of armor.
"You wouldn't even be able to fathom it, but I'll tell you just this once."
Ichigo raised his head and met Furofushi's eyes.
"Quincy: Letzt Stil. For a brief moment, I reach the essence of the Quincy."
Ichigo spoke calmly as he manifested his Heilig Bogen.
"And afterward, I will lose all my power."
Even in the face of that overwhelming power, Furofushi burst into a mad laugh.
"Yes!!! This is it!!!! Show me!! Show me how you beat me!!!!"
She charged at Ichigo, laughing like a maniac. Her face, as she rushed forward with all her might, was filled with a joy she had never felt before.
Ichigo indifferently released the bowstring toward her.
—KABOOOOM!!!!
A pillar of light was fired.
The arrow pierced exactly through Furofushi's chest. No, 'pierced' was an understatement.
Where the light passed, half of the Seireitei behind Furofushi was completely vaporized.
Even the massive roar couldn't keep up with the speed of light, erupting only after the fact.
"Huff... huff..."
Ichigo stared blankly at the sight.
He had felt a momentary sense of omnipotence, but he hadn't known that Letzt Stil would possess such devastating power.
"I didn't hear... the scream.... Ugh."
Muttering that, Ichigo felt a sudden sense of exhaustion and slumped down with a groan.
Spiritual power was rapidly draining from his body.
'...I have to move quickly. While I still have power—'
Just as Ichigo tried to get up and move again, someone charged toward him like a flash of lightning.
"...!"
—Clang!!
Ichigo immediately created a Reishi sword to parry the opponent's strike, and with his other hand, he instantly formed a Heilig Bogen and fired an arrow, causing an explosion.
The place where the arrow passed exploded once more, creating a roar.
However, it was a weak, sputtering power compared to the first strike.
His spiritual power was already being lost at a rapid pace.
'Dammit, I have to move quickly...'
Ichigo clicked his tongue and turned his head to escape to another front, but only the afterimage of long black hair fluttered where the attacker had just been standing.
"......She didn't die—"
Soon, the dust was cleared by the wind, and in that spot stood a woman with an overwhelming presence, with something shaped like a giant stingray behind her.
Her eyes were fixed on Ichigo. Long black hair. Amidst the bloodlust that weighed down his entire body, a red flush was blooming on her cheeks.
"Ah..."
Yachiru Unohana.
She let out an ecstatic groan toward Ichigo, accompanied by a smile full of rapture.
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