Bleach: Awakened — Chapter 90 - The Espada (Part Two)
The casual words drifted out only after the fact. Aaroniero Arruruerie's massive body left not even a fragment behind, as though Aaroniero had never existed in this world at all.
"UWOOOOOH!"
An enormous fist came crashing down toward Ichigo. The 10th Espada... no, that wasn't right. Yammy Llargo, originally number ten, now had a body far larger than before, and Ichigo noticed that the number 10 branded on Yammy's left arm had changed to 0.
BOOM!
Yellow sand exploded outward. The impact seemed to shake the entire desert, ripples racing across the dunes in every direction. Yet Yammy Llargo, the one who had thrown the punch, wore a deeply sour expression.
"Not bad."
Compared to that enormous fist, the black blade—already short to begin with, looked even smaller. And yet it was precisely that small, short blade that had stopped a fist considerably larger than Ichigo himself.
"So it's the type that keeps getting stronger." Ichigo pressed forward with a bit of force, nearly toppling Yammy's massive body. "Keep powering up, then. I want to see exactly how strong you can get."
"...UWOOOOOOOOOH!"
Eyes going wide, Yammy's body swelled again. The frame that had stood fifty or sixty meters tall shot up to nearly a hundred. Yammy raised that colossal fist and glared down at Ichigo, face twisted with rage, but didn't swing.
"Ha... it's emotion, isn't it." Ichigo's eyes lit up as he read Yammy's fury. "Then let me throw some more fuel on the fire."
The long blade swept out. Golden spiritual pressure flickered along its edge and released in the next instant, not a Getsuga Tensho, just pure sword pressure.
SLASH,
The terrifying sword pressure grazed past Yammy's head. A shallow cut opened across that enormous face, and a giant ear dropped to the ground.
"...UWOOOOOOOOOOOH!"
Yammy stared at the blood-soaked ear lying in the sand. It took a moment for the reality to land. Then the pain hit, and with it came both shock and fury, shock at the sheer terror of Ichigo's power, fury at Ichigo's contemptuous attitude, and fury at Yammy's own helplessness.
"Whoa."
Under Ichigo's mildly astonished gaze, Yammy's body swelled yet again. Nearly two hundred meters now, the sheer scale of it radiating crushing pressure even from a distance.
"Die, you bastard!"
Yammy roared, having reached the absolute limit, and brought that colossal fist crashing down toward Ichigo once more.
BOOM!
The impact rang out through the heavens. Ichigo raised the long blade horizontally to block, but his body still sank, both feet plunging into the white sand. The force kicked up a massive cloud of grit that swallowed his vision entirely.
"Now's my chance!"
THUD,
"Love!"
The voice of the 7th Espada rang in his ear. Zommari Rureaux used Sonído to materialize at Ichigo's side, and several eyes snapped open across the pumpkin-like lower body.
Simultaneously, eyes of every size erupted across Zommari's upper body and neck. A rough count put them at no fewer than several dozen.
"Hmm?"
Abnormal spiritual pressure fluctuations surged in, not just one, but dozens. Fifty attacks resembling Kido came flying in at once. Ichigo's brow furrowed.
SWISH SWISH SWISH,
Fifty sun-shaped markings bloomed across his entire body. Blut Arterie surged to its absolute limit. Ichigo shoved forward with force, repelling Yammy Llargo, Yammy cried out in alarm as that massive body stumbled back and back, then crashed to the ground.
"This is my ability—Love!" Zommari laughed wildly. Every extra eye snapped shut, leaving only the original pair. "You were too careless, Ichigo Kurosaki!"
"Having been struck by my Love, you are now under my control! Hahahaha!"
"Zero common sense."
The corner of Ichigo's mouth twitched. Under Zommari's terrified gaze, Ichigo slowly turned around, eyes cold as ice.
"How... how can this be?!" Zommari pushed the ability with full force, nothing. "How is this possible?! Why isn't Love working?!"
BOOM!
A torrent of spiritual pressure erupted skyward. The sun-shaped markings on Ichigo's body faded one by one, and in moments all fifty were gone, as though he had never been struck at all.
"Before an absolute gap in spiritual pressure, so-called abilities are completely meaningless." Ichigo's voice was flat as he raised the long blade high. "If your spiritual pressure had reached the level of the top four Espada, I might have found this slightly troublesome."
"Unfortunately, there are no ifs."
"UWAAAAAAH!"
At the final moment, Zommari pulled all four limbs into that massive pumpkin-shaped lower body, adopting what looked like an impenetrable defensive posture.
SLASH,
It didn't matter. The pumpkin-shaped body split cleanly in two, and inside was Zommari, equally bisected.
"If your spiritual pressure were a little stronger, perhaps you wouldn't have died." Ichigo flicked the long blade, sending blood splattering across the white sand. "Same as before—unfortunately, there are no ifs."
THUD,
A white figure flashed into view at Ichigo's side. A blue lance of light drove forward, Ulquiorra Cifer, another ambush.
"Too slow."
The short blade caught it, and the long blade swept out in the same motion. Ichigo's eyes were cold. Two Espada down in a row. He was slipping deeper into the rhythm of genuine combat, a true fighting state he had never quite reached before.
CLANG,
The long blade was a breath away from landing when a longsword thrust in from the side, intercepting the strike on Ulquiorra's behalf.
"Hirviendo!"
A crack split the sword's blade. Tier Harribel's eyes narrowed as spiritual pressure erupted, and a blast of scalding steam vented from the sword's tip.
HISS HISS,
The range was too close. Under Tier Harribel's control, the steam converged into a single concentrated point and blasted straight into Ichigo.
"Hss!"
He couldn't suppress the sharp intake of breath. Hierro's defensive capability was extraordinary, but in game terms, Hierro was physical defense, and this steam was magic damage.
Blut, which handled both, hadn't been switched over yet. Tanking it on Hierro alone didn't cause serious injury, but it genuinely hurt.
Seizing the instant Ichigo winced, Ulquiorra Cifer wrenched backward and retreated. The spiritual pressure around Ulquiorra fluctuated wildly, and something uncharacteristic, an expression, surfaced on that otherwise blank face.
"Die, you bastard!"
An arrogant roar erupted from behind. A massive battle-axe came howling through the air, and before Ichigo even turned around, he felt it, that spiritual pressure soaked in the stench of death. The 2nd Espada. Baraggan Louisenbairn.
Switching from Arterie to Vene. Blut pushed to maximum output. Spiritual pressure flooded every inch of skin, and Hierro hardened to its absolute peak, Soul Reaper as the frame, Hollow and Quincy driven to their very limit.
CLANG,
The flames in Baraggan Louisenbairn's eye sockets flickered violently, betraying the shock roiling underneath. Baraggan saw it clearly, as the attacking party, the massive battle-axe in Baraggan's own hands had cracked.
➤ Next: Soul Fragmentation and Aging