Bleach: Awakened — Chapter 86 - No. 5 and No. 6

"Still too slow."

Grimmjow's speed ranked among the fastest even by Captain standards. In Ichigo's eyes right now, it still wasn't enough. Against an opponent like this, he didn't even need to draw his blade.

Unhurriedly, Ichigo raised his left hand. The lightning-fast thrust met his grip. Looking at Grimmjow's shocked expression, Ichigo let a mocking smile curl at the corner of his mouth.

"Seriously—with power like that, you dare come face me?"

Same as every opponent before. Ichigo squeezed with the left hand. Grimmjow cried out and twisted sideways from the pain. Before a scream could even escape, Ichigo hurled Grimmjow away. The body tumbled through the air more than a dozen times before barely managing to steady itself.

"Save it." Ichigo shook his head. "Tell Sosuke Aizen to come out and face me."

From the moment he entered Las Noches until now, Ichigo had only been able to sense Aizen's spiritual pressure faintly and intermittently, partly due to interference, and partly because Aizen was actively suppressing it.

"Bastard!"

Those offhand words landed like a slap. Rage shattered reason. Both claws clenched tight, both legs coiled with power, and a pair of slit-pupil eyes locked onto Ichigo as the spiritual pressure across Grimmjow's body surged to its absolute peak.

"Ha!"

Before Grimmjow could move, Nnoitra Gilga stepped in first. Six scythes swinging, charging forward, the momentum was terrifying.

"Th-that... what is that..."

Not far away, Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck was hiding in a corner. Watching Nnoitra's display, that small body trembled. A faint, wavering spiritual pressure flickered from within, and those eyes stared blankly ahead.

"Has it triggered something... Lady Nelliel..."

Pesche Guatiche wanted to say something but couldn't find the words. The only option was to keep watching that completely one-sided battlefield.

CLANG,

"Still not quite there."

The scythes landed. Spirit particles surged through the blood vessels. Blut Vene was pushed to its absolute limit, and every scythe left nothing but faint white marks on Ichigo's chest.

"Tch!" Nnoitra Gilga's right three arms trembled from the sustained effort. "What kind of monster..."

CLANG,

The left three arms swung the scythes straight for Ichigo's face. One aimed directly for Ichigo's eye.

"Seriously, that's a little much." The corner of Ichigo's mouth twitched. "Ever hear of not hitting someone in the face?"

In one clean motion, Ichigo kicked out and planted a foot squarely into Nnoitra Gilga's stomach. Nnoitra took the hit and held the ground.

"Me?" The expression twisted from pain, but the smugness underneath couldn't be hidden. "My Hierro is the strongest among the Espada!"

"The hell does Hierro matter."

From stillness to motion. Physical functions pushed to their absolute limit. Ichigo's eyes went cold, and the force came again.

BOOM,

Nnoitra Gilga launched like a cannonball, crashed into a stone pillar, and kept flying. The momentum didn't stop. Several hundred meters passed before Nnoitra finally came to a halt.

"Cough... so this is the one even Sosuke Aizen doesn't dare fight..."

Internal organs damaged to varying degrees, Nnoitra Gilga struggled up from the ground and propped the scythes against the earth, staring from a distance at that presence that seemed like something out of myth.

"Truly... a supreme warrior!"

Face burning with feverish ecstasy, Nnoitra ignored the pain and started walking. One step, then another, then breaking into a full sprint, charging toward Ichigo like a pilgrim rushing toward a sacred site.

"The hell is wrong with you." Ichigo couldn't help but mutter. "Are all you Arrancar this strange?"

"You're a Soul Reaper—it's not your place to talk about us!"

Two massive blue light-trails blazed across both claws, like an enormous set of magnified talons. Grimmjow unleashed the most powerful technique in that arsenal, drove straight in at Ichigo, and the massive blue claws landed at point-blank range.

BOOM,

"Ichigo!"

The force kicked up a storm of white sand. Nelliel couldn't hold back a cry from the shadows and was just about to rush out when Pesche pulled Nelliel back.

"Don't worry, Nelliel!" Pesche said quickly. "An attack like this—there's no way Ichigo gets hurt."

"But... but... that was so scary. An attack like that."

"It only looks scary." Unlike Nelliel, who had little battle awareness, Pesche could see the gap between the two. "The difference in level is just too large."

"I'm a human. Not a Soul Reaper."

Those light, unhurried words drifted out. The white sand settled. The massive claw rested against Ichigo's left chest. The Shihakusho had shattered, yet not even the skin beneath had broken.

"How... is that... possible..."

Eyes wide, Grimmjow stared at the scene in disbelief. Beneath the exposed skin, there was no surge of spiritual pressure at all. What Sosuke Aizen had told them about before, the power of the Quincy's Blut, none of it had even been activated.

"Oh? So you know about Blut."

Blut Arterie pushed to its absolute limit. A light smile at the corner of his mouth. Ichigo's right fist clenched and drove straight for Grimmjow's face.

BOOM,

The instant the fist made contact, space itself seemed to explode. Hairline fractures split through the air. Grimmjow's face warped on impact, the entire body sent flying, rolling countless times through the white sand before finally collapsing to the ground.

"Heh heh heh..."

Ragged, heaving breaths. Grimmjow's eyes stared vacantly up at the blue sky, body trembling without stop. What had just happened made Grimmjow begin to doubt the very nature of Hollows.

"Hahahaha!"

A brash laugh rang out across the sky. Nnoitra Gilga came charging back. Having paid little attention to the two of them fighting just now, Nnoitra had been running High-Speed Regeneration at full force, nowhere near the strength of Hollow form, but enough to recover slightly.

"Why are you back again?"

CLANG,

Ichigo let the scythes fall against his body and stood unmoved. Nnoitra's six arms swung wildly, trailing countless afterimages.

"What's... going on..."

After more than a hundred consecutive strikes, Nnoitra had noticed something was wrong. The sensation was different from before. Cutting through what was supposedly Blut, it was possible to feel the blade biting into flesh and blood, it still couldn't cut through, but there was a distinct feeling of spiritual pressure sliding across the edge.

Now it was different. Every single strike felt like cutting into steel. That feeling, it was exactly like hitting the very thing Nnoitra was most proud of...

"Hierro." A faint smile rested at the corner of Ichigo's mouth. "That's what you call it, right?"

Eyes going wide. The six-armed assault froze. Nnoitra stumbled backward, staring at Ichigo in open horror, mouth moving, but nothing came out.

"Didn't Sosuke Aizen tell you?" Ichigo shook his head. "There's also Hollow power inside me."

Ichigo raised his left hand, index finger extended. High-density spiritual pressure, pure black, gathered without stop. The terrifying pressure seemed to compress the surrounding space itself, hairline fractures splitting the air in every direction.

"You all should know this one, being Espada." Ichigo said it lightly, almost casually.

"Gran Rey Cero."

➤ Next: Power Further Awakened