Bleach: Reborn — Chapter 108 - The Battle Concludes
"ROAR!" The Ancient Hollow Beast's Reiatsu crashed down over Wayne and Baraggan like a collapsing ceiling. High-Class Vasto-level Reiatsu was on an entirely different plane from Mid-Class.
"Hahaha, die! All of you will die!" Susbus laughed wildly from atop the Ancient Hollow Beast's head. Her power temporarily boosted and the Ancient Hollow Beast under her control, she was now the strongest thing on this battlefield.
Her control could only hold the Ancient Hollow Beast for so long. But if she could take out Baraggan, her greatest enemy, within that window, the rest wouldn't be worth worrying about. As for the Ancient Hollow Beast, she'd simply command it to deal her a final heavy blow at the end and absorb all its Reiatsu in one go. Slow absorption through a Sealing Array was the long-term play, but the current state of the battle no longer gave her that luxury.
Oh, and she ought to kill the one who'd just taken out Saros as well. That Low-Class Vasto-level was no pushover.
"This is getting a bit troublesome." Wayne scratched his head from a distance. "Great Emperor, think we can take this thing?"
"An Ancient Hollow Beast has a natural resistance to Law Power. At King Hollow strength, confronting one head-on through Law wouldn't be a problem. At present, however, only a remnant of my Law Power lingers. It may not have much effect even delivered directly into its body. On top of that, the Death Sigh stored in the Spatial Crystals isn't particularly abundant. Against an ordinary Hollow Beast, it would suffice. Against this creature..." Baraggan paused. "It will barely make a dent."
"I had hoped to play the fisherman, but I never expected Susbus to have kept this trump card hidden." Wayne swung his greatsword. "A direct clash won't work. We need to take out Susbus first, break the Ancient Hollow Beast free of her control, then hit it with something lethal during the disorientation window right after."
"Using Death Sigh on Susbus isn't out of the question, but we'd need to break through that damned Spiritual Power defense first. Without that, Death Sigh can't penetrate. As for Spiritual Power itself — this old man has no way to age it instantly through the Time Law. Slow erosion is possible, but for that, we'd still need to pin that beast down." Baraggan withdrew his great axe and brought his hands together before him. Dense black waves began spreading across both skeletal hands. "Can you hold off the beast and finish Susbus at the same time? Alone?"
"Not alone. But with one more hand, it's enough." Wayne raised a hand toward the sky and fired a single pale-gold Bala.
It shot upward and burst in the air. A massive pale-gold firework bloomed against the black night, blazing and unmistakable.
Immediately after, from somewhere east of Wayne's position, a Mid-Class Vasto-level Reiatsu rose slowly and came streaking toward him at full speed.
"Szayelaporro!" Susbus felt that second Reiatsu signature, and the red light in her eyes burned brighter. "Even you've come to stick your hand in this?"
Just as she said. Szayelaporro had come at Wayne's invitation, the reasons simple: dividing spoils, seizing power, and a deal.
"Long time no see, Susbus." Szayelaporro smiled at her from the edge of the battlefield. "I never imagined you still had methods like this outside of my collected data. You've considerably raised my interest. Regrettably, you aren't my prey today."
"Per our earlier agreement, Szayelaporro — you tie down the Ancient Hollow Beast while I go up and finish Susbus. No objections?" Wayne used Sonído to appear at Szayelaporro's side, pulled Saros's corpse from his Innate Space, and tossed it over. "The payment I promised."
"Oh? Saros is already dead?" Szayelaporro looked mildly surprised. He had confirmed that the density of Wayne's Reiatsu could fuel a substantial power increase in him, but he hadn't expected it to be enough to bring down Saros. Perhaps, just as Wayne had said, there were still aspects of Wayne's abilities he hadn't fully researched. This was a fine opportunity to observe his combat style up close and gather data.
"Fine. I'll occupy your large toy. I can't hold it forever, though." Szayelaporro set aside his casual air, spread his wings, and prepared for battle.
"I'm counting on you." Wayne nodded and launched himself toward Susbus.
Three against one. The game was officially on.
Wayne reached Susbus first, slashing a Sword Gleam downward. Susbus raised a hand and cracked a Spiritual Tentacle like a whip. One swat shattered the incoming strike clean.
On the other side, the droplet-shaped buds beneath Szayelaporro's four wings shot out, and the Ancient Hollow Beast batted them to pieces with a single slap. That was fine. His goal was never to land them on the beast directly. He needed the toxin inside the buds to corrode through Susbus's Spiritual Power layers first, then reach the Ancient Hollow Beast beneath.
The venom inside those buds was a neurotoxin. Not lethal, but it would paralyze any area it touched.
Within seconds, the Ancient Hollow Beast's front claws were coated in paralytic venom, both forelimbs locked rigid where they stood. The beast had lost a portion of its mobility.
"The next batch of paralytic venom needs time to regenerate. You're up, skeleton." Szayelaporro's wings retracted, and new buds began sprouting at the same points. In the meantime, all he could do was harass with Sonído.
Ask him to go in for close-quarters battle and you might as well be asking for his life.
"This old man's name is Baraggan!" The Skull Emperor released the Death Sigh he'd been building and let it erupt, spreading it across the Ancient Hollow Beast's body.
Ssssss...
A piercing corrosive hiss crawled across the Ancient Hollow Beast's scales. The temporal decay didn't eat through them quickly. The Ancient Hollow Beast's lifespan was simply too vast, beings like this had an inherent edge against Law Power, and so the decay moved far slower than expected. Susbus's Spiritual Power still wrapped the beast as well, making it even harder for Baraggan's Decay Power to push through.
"Boy. It's all on you now." Baraggan kept his Death Sigh controlled and steady, calling out to Wayne. Between him and Szayelaporro, the Ancient Hollow Beast was temporarily locked down, and a portion of Susbus's attention had been pulled away from her defenses.
What happened next depended entirely on how far Wayne could push this.
Hum!
Wayne fired a Cero and scattered Susbus's Spiritual Power barrier further. Then came another Dimension Slash, right to her face.
At this point, only Dimension Slash pressed that close could actually put damage on Susbus.
"Damn trash! Once I get this Ancient Hollow Beast moving freely again, I'll have it eat you alive!" Susbus had taken another hit and was seething. With her power temporarily boosted to High-Class Vasto-level, she could weather Wayne's Dimension Slash on Reiatsu alone. The attacks left shallow wounds, nothing that stripped her of fighting capacity. But the humiliation of being nicked over and over again had pushed this vixen to the edge of losing it entirely.
Unfortunately, two Mid-Class Vasto-levels were pinning the Ancient Hollow Beast down. She still couldn't give it full freedom of movement. All she could do was use the beast's massive Cero to harass and push back at the two of them. She couldn't break free yet. But she felt it coming soon, the paralytic effect was nearly worn out, and the moment it faded, she'd smash Wayne flat with one blow.
"SKREEEONG!"
The Ancient Hollow Beast roared and fired an enormous Cero straight toward Wayne.
Wayne had seen what an oversized Cero could do. He wasn't about to tank it. Fortunately, his Spatial ability still had use here. The Ancient Hollow Beast hadn't fired a black Cero either, which let Wayne barely edge out of the way in time.
"You up there — I'd suggest surrendering now. This old lady might still spare your life. Otherwise, don't blame me."
"A spent arrow has no business offering mercy." Wayne spoke, and launched another strike.
"You should be able to feel it." Susbus's eyes gleamed cold. "The Ancient Hollow Beast beneath me is absorbing the Reiatsu of every dead Adjuchas on this battlefield. Once it recovers enough, that's your death sentence."
"Oh, I know. Aren't you scared too — that if it absorbs too much it'll break free of your control? When that happens, we might not be the first ones to die." Wayne pressed forward without hurry, keeping his assault steady.
"Bastard, you're courting death!" Susbus's Reiatsu surged and poured straight down into the Ancient Hollow Beast beneath her. The paralytic venom on its body evaporated instantly. With a furious roar, a black Cero erupted from the beast and blasted the surrounding Death Sigh apart in one sweep. Full mobility returned. With a roar locked onto Wayne, it charged.
"Abandoned your defenses for one desperate throw?" Wayne felt it the moment it happened, Susbus's Spiritual Power barrier and Spiritual Tentacles vanished all at once, every last scrap funneled into the Ancient Hollow Beast's body, and in an instant it tore free.
"But that's enough." Wayne put away the Sky-Rending Greatsword, brought both hands together before him, then spread them wide toward Susbus. "Open!"
Pfft!
A small spatial rift tore open, right where Wayne had been landing his Dimension Slashes on Susbus all along.
Those strikes hadn't simply been meant to wound her. Each one had been layering Spatial Power into those wounds, building piece by piece. The damage was shallow, so the accumulation was slow. But it had been building the whole time, and now Wayne snapped all of it open at once.
"What?!" Susbus stared at the spatial rift that had just torn open on her body, pupils shrinking to points. She scrambled to reapply her Spiritual Power. Too late.
Pfft!
Wayne's right claw punched out through a separate spatial rift opened beside him and drove straight into Susbus's wound. Direct, penetrating contact.
"Bastard!" Susbus flooded her Spiritual Power across her entire body, sealing over the torn spatial rift as well. One hand shot out and clamped onto Wayne's arm. The Spiritual Power sliced down and sheared his right claw off at the wrist. Blood sprayed from the stump.
Wayne pulled back through the pain, restored the limb instantly with High-Speed Regeneration, then used Sonído to leave the spot, putting distance between himself and the Ancient Hollow Beast's snapping jaws.
ROAR!
The Ancient Hollow Beast overshot Wayne and swept past, front claw lashing out four claw-blades as he Sonído'd away. High-Class combat power. Even mid-Sonído, his trace could be tracked. All four blades connected.
Four gashes tore into Wayne's body, each one cutting deep to bone.
"Boy!" Baraggan immediately drove the Death Sigh back around the Ancient Hollow Beast. On the other side, Szayelaporro Sonído'd to Wayne and hauled him clear.
"Trading wounds for wounds — was that worth it?" Szayelaporro was not impressed.
"It's fine." Wayne waved him off, pushed his Reiatsu, and closed the wounds with High-Speed Regeneration. "Just costs some Reiatsu."
"You..." Szayelaporro watched the regeneration and had to admit he was impressed despite himself. "What now? Keep the siege going?"
"No." Wayne shook his head, watching the Ancient Hollow Beast wheel around and charge again. "We're ending this. Buy me a few seconds, hold that thing off."
The Sky-Rending Greatsword materialized in his left hand. He began charging power, locked onto Susbus. Baraggan moved to Wayne's side as well, Death Sigh churning in his hands.
"Hmph. Suicidal behavior. I genuinely have no idea where you find this confidence." Susbus sneered.
"...Detonate."
The single word left his mouth. Wayne's Reiatsu spiked to its absolute ceiling. At Susbus's wound, a Spatial Crystal shimmering with a faint, otherworldly light exploded from inside her, and packed within it was Baraggan's Death Sigh.
"What?!" Susbus reacted instantly, flooding Spiritual Power into her organs before the Death Sigh could eat through them completely. Not fast enough. Wayne's charged strike was already there.
"Space-Rending Slash — Void Severance!"
The pale-gold Sword Gleam blazed past Susbus's neck in a single flash, only stopping once it had sheared the peak off a distant mountain range.
PFFFT!
The wound nearly took her head off. The trauma was too great. Susbus could no longer hold her Spiritual Power together, and the control shattered. The Ancient Hollow Beast backlashed instantly.
SKREEEONG!
The Ancient Hollow Beast screamed. A colossal wave of Reiatsu tangled with Spiritual Power reversed into Susbus's skull and in an instant burst her head from the inside out. Not even her Hollow Mask was left behind.
"Damn. Wasted resources." Wayne's frown dug deep. That strike had been meant to cleanly sever her neck. His control over the new technique was still lacking. Instead, he'd had to watch Susbus's head explode from the Spiritual Power backlash, her body then dissolving under the slow corrosion of Baraggan's Decay Power until nothing remained.
"Forget the resources, finish the beast first!" Baraggan yanked out his great axe and, before the Ancient Hollow Beast could process what had just happened, brought it down onto the Hollow Mask. The axe bit through and split a crack straight across it.
Wayne was right behind him. He forced his Reiatsu and arrived in front of the Ancient Hollow Beast in the same breath, driving his sword into the opening Baraggan had made. The Hollow Mask shattered. The blade continued and carved a bone-deep gash into the skull.
Szayelaporro Sonído'd in on the heels of that. Using the wound Wayne had opened, he transformed all four wings into blades and drove them into the gash, then dumped every drop of his remaining venom straight into the Ancient Hollow Beast's head.
ROAR!
The Ancient Hollow Beast wailed. The agony tearing through its skull sent its body into violent convulsions, thrashing wildly as if trying to fling every Hollow on the field into the air.
"Die already!" Wayne drove his left hand into the Ancient Hollow Beast's skull and fired a charged black Cero point-blank against the bone, straight into its brain. Muffled detonations thundered through the Ancient Hollow Beast's head in rapid succession.
SKREEEONG!
A wretched, agonized shriek. The Ancient Hollow Beast's head came apart. Its eyes went blank. The massive body pitched forward and crashed toward the ground, convulsed once, twice, and went still.
Ancient Hollow Beast, slain.
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PS: Got distracted for a moment and broke my perfect attendance streak. Mentally shattered.
Screw it. Screw it all.
➤ Next: Nightmare Descends