Bleach: Awakened — Chapter 40 - Fated Showdown (Part Two)

Tch... what a troublesome opponent.

The blue radiance ahead kept intensifying. The Quincy's strength had far exceeded Mayuri Kurotsuchi's expectations. Wanting to keep the spoils to oneself, Mayuri had come without gathering much intelligence, and now it was looking more and more like a case of getting caught in one's own trap.

WHOOSH!

A bolt of light came bursting forward. Its intensity surpassed the last by a wide margin, and as Uryu's command over the power continued to deepen, Uryu gradually felt out the upper limits of what could be drawn out here in Soul Society.

THUD!

"...What?!"

Eyes going wide, what caught Uryu off guard was that it was not the captain who had deflected the arrow. It was the female Soul Reaper who had been standing silently behind Mayuri the entire time, and she had scattered the bolt with her bare hands.

"What do you think you're doing?! Nemu!" There was no gratitude. Mayuri Kurotsuchi's face twisted into something ferocious. "Who gave you permission to interfere?!"

"My personal judgment." Squad 12's lieutenant, Nemu Kurotsuchi, said with a blank expression. "The enemy is formidable. Mayuri-sama requires my assistance."

"I don't need it!" Mayuri snapped. "Without my orders, you stay put!"

"Yes, Mayuri-sama." Nemu said compliantly. "Then I will stand down."

"My apologies, Quincy." Mayuri tugged at the corner of that mouth. "Shall we continue?"

"And here I thought the two of you would come at me together." Uryu looked at Nemu Kurotsuchi, slender in frame, yet possessed of terrifying physical strength. "With power that frightening, wouldn't complementing each other be the obvious move?"

"Ha... you don't need to know that much."

The moment the words left his mouth, something resembling wires shot from the left hand. The entire left palm lunged straight for Uryu.

"A cheap trick."

Bow drawn, arrow loosed, the blue bolt struck the arm in an instant. But at that same moment, Mayuri suddenly charged straight at Uryu, swinging that strange Zanpakuto.

Eyes sharpening, Uryu had just started to step back when Nemu Kurotsuchi appeared directly in front of Uryu. No time to think. A kick lashed out, and it was like kicking a mountain range. The impact rebounded straight back, and the foot throbbed with pain.

Slash.

Ashisogi Jizo carved across both their bodies. Blood poured from Nemu Kurotsuchi as she crumpled to the ground, unable to move.

Seeing the attack land, Mayuri moved without any urgency, producing a green syringe and plunging it into the left hand. In an instant, what had been a shredded ruin was restored to its original state.

"Mayuri-sama..."

Lying on the ground, Nemu called out weakly. Mayuri clicked his tongue, produced another green syringe, and drove it into Nemu. The wound left by Ashisogi Jizo, just like the hand, healed to normal in an instant.

"As I thought. That whole exchange was rigged. You said no unauthorized movement, but in reality the two of you had already worked out a plan."

"?!"

The voice came from behind. Mayuri Kurotsuchi's eyes went wide. Turning around, a blaze of blue light, and a powerful bolt came screaming straight forward.

BOOM!

The explosion sent countless Soul Reapers and nobles scrambling, stirring up waves of dust. Nemu Kurotsuchi, lying on the ground, struggled to rise, and stayed down.

"Hah... hah... hah..."

Breathing in ragged heaves, the right hand gripping the Zanpakuto fell limp, blood spraying without end. All three blades of the Zanpakuto had snapped clean off. Mayuri Kurotsuchi's face was a mask of fury and disbelief. It had been a long time since things had been this miserable. And beyond that,

"I clearly landed a hit on you... why can you still move?!"

The accusation rang out. Mayuri Kurotsuchi's Ashisogi Jizo could sever and paralyze an opponent's limbs on contact. The reason Nemu lay on the ground unable to rise was precisely because of that.

"You don't actually think Quincy are that fragile, do you." Uryu said calmly. "It seems your research into the Quincy is not thorough enough."

"Is that so... a special defensive ability." Mayuri regained a measure of composure. "Wonderful. This is exactly what I love—research material that surpasses every expectation. How magnificent...!"

"Bankai—Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo: Matai Fukuin Shotai!"

Immense spiritual pressure erupted skyward. The Zanpakuto transformed in an instant, into a giant infant, encased head to toe in golden armor, clutching a massive shield. It looked absurd. The oppressive weight it radiated was anything but.

"This... what is this?"

Like the black-armored warrior glimpsed from a distance earlier that morning, yet the feeling this gave off was far stranger, far more ominous. Uryu's brow furrowed, and the bow came up again.

"My Bankai is biological in nature." Mayuri's breathing had steadied. "Based on intelligence gathered mid-combat, it can adapt in real time. The original Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo would likely have been destroyed the instant it appeared—one arrow at your maximum output."

"But with the strongest defense it now possesses, it can no longer be broken by you!"

"Strongest defense, it's just a worn-out suit of armor." The arrow finished condensing. Uryu said calmly. "Watch me shoot straight through it."

The bowstring released. The bolt screamed forward, carrying the force to pierce anything in the world, straight toward the enormous infant.

CRACK!

"What... what?!"

Uryu stared in disbelief. The Quincy arrow, capable of piercing a captain-level Soul Reaper, had simply shattered on impact.

"I told you. This form abandons every other capability in absolute dedication to defense." Mayuri plunged another green syringe into an arm. "Adapted to your spiritual pressure on top of that, your bow is useless against it!"

"Is that so..."

Undeterred, Uryu drew again. The bolt screamed out again. The giant infant showed not the slightest reaction, it even scratched its own belly, as though the hit had never registered.

"Even its intelligence was discarded." Uryu frowned, drawing once more. "That really is impressively hard."

"Stop wasting your effort!" The mocking smile was back on Mayuri Kurotsuchi's face. "This is a defense no Quincy can break. Give up!"

"Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo! Crush him for me!"

The giant infant had little in the way of reasoning, but the Zanpakuto's base instincts remained. At its master's command, it began writhing and crawling toward Uryu, the black armor greatly hampering its movement.

Even so, beneath that massive frame, even crawling was fast. The infant closed the gap in moments. The enormous armored hand came swinging down with tremendous force.

"Have you kept count?"

"Hm?"

Hearing those words, Mayuri Kurotsuchi couldn't help furrowing a brow. A trace of unease stirred somewhere beneath the surface.

"How many arrows I've fired in total."

"What do you mean."

"It's already been six times, more than enough, actually." Uryu said evenly. Lines of blue light began appearing across the ground beneath them. "Five would have been sufficient."

"This... what is this?!"

Five lines of blue light stretched across the ground, forming one enormous five-pointed star.

And at the center of that star stood the giant infant.

➤ Next: The Two Who Fled