Bleach: Awakened — Chapter 91 - Soul Fragmentation and Aging
"Your raw power still falls considerably short of your ability."
The great axe came down against his chest, and only sliced through the Shihakusho, leaving a red mark on Ichigo's chest. It didn't even break the skin.
"You BASTARD!"
Roaring at full volume, Baraggan Louisenbairn erupted with boundless black energy. Every Espada present felt their pupils contract and scattered, putting distance between themselves and the group. That was the power of aging, anything it touched would be reduced to dry bone.
All things in the world eventually reach their end. Not even gods are exempt. That was Baraggan Louisenbairn's ability.
"Too slow."
The instant the black energy appeared, Ichigo stepped back. He didn't know exactly what that black energy could do, but instinct told him clearly enough: even in his current state, that was a force capable of killing him.
"Getsuga Tensho."
One reliable move, good for all occasions. Golden light converged at the tip of the blade, and terrifying spiritual pressure erupted from Ichigo's body, the spiritual pressure of one standing at the absolute limit of the species. Every Espada widened their eyes and took an involuntary step back.
Hissss,
The golden crescent slammed into the black energy drifting like fog. At the moment of contact, the black energy crumbled apart like tofu. The crescent drove through with unstoppable force, bearing straight down on Baraggan Louisenbairn.
"I am Baraggan Louisenbairn!" As the crescent swept in, Baraggan Louisenbairn screamed. "I am the King of Hueco Mundo!"
BOOM!
Black energy surged continuously from Baraggan Louisenbairn's body. The power that had once decayed all things in the world could only chip away at the crescent little by little, in the face of that absolute gap in spiritual pressure.
"What a terrifying ability!" Ichigo's expression tightened slightly. He could see the crescent losing momentum. "If your spiritual pressure were equal to mine, it might be me struggling to hold on right now."
"But you won't get that chance."
The left hand gripping the short blade swept through the air. The golden crescent hung suspended without releasing, hovering in place. The long blade rose high overhead, and the terrifying spiritual pressure at this moment faintly seemed to push beyond its limits.
"Getsuga Ten...?!"
The long blade froze mid-descent. Ichigo's gaze snapped down toward his own feet. Several wolves, entirely grey and radiating a blue glow, were biting at his trouser legs.
"What the hell?!"
Before Ichigo could react, an intense blue light radiated from the grey wolves' bodies. Their forms rapidly expanded. The next instant, a blinding white flash erupted, and the grey wolves detonated like bombs.
BOOM,
A tremendous roar shook the heavens. The violent explosion kicked up great billows of white smoke. Baraggan Louisenbairn's black energy had finally ground the crescent down to nothing, though at enormous cost to Baraggan Louisenbairn's own spiritual pressure. Seeing that Ichigo's attention was elsewhere, Baraggan Louisenbairn immediately retreated.
"Cough, cough..."
The sound of coughing drifted through the white smoke. Ichigo waved a hand to clear it, revealing a Shihakusho that was slightly torn and a face marked with traces of black.
"What kind of move was that?" Ichigo frowned, looking at Coyote Starrk standing nearby with more than a dozen grey wolves at Starrk's feet. "Is that your ability..."
"Not purely a construct of spiritual pressure—there are souls in there. Your soul?"
"...Quite perceptive." Coyote Starrk gave a bitter smile. "That's right. Every wolf is a fragment of my soul. A part of myself."
"A miserable ability." Ichigo shook his head. "Splitting your own soul as a means of attack—can you even recover from that? What happens when your soul is fully split apart? Who do you think you are."
"Are you Yhwach? Or are you me? Honestly."
"I don't know exactly what that last line means." Coyote Starrk gripped both guns. "But if it's you—is using an ability like that really fine?"
"No. I would never be stupid enough to do something like that."
"...Is that so."
"Enough talk! Let's go, all of us!"
The arrogant voice rang out before the figure arrived. It was Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, charging back in. The massive blue claw condensed once more around Grimmjow's talons, its force noticeably greater than before. The crushing defeat hadn't broken Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, it had made Grimmjow stronger.
"Getting stronger the more you fight..." Ichigo couldn't help but mutter. "Makes me feel like you're supposed to be the main character and I'm the big villain..."
"Come to think of it, to you Hollows, maybe I really am the villain."
Muttering to himself, the claws were already upon him. Ichigo neither dodged nor evaded, standing in place as Blut Vene and Hierro quietly activated, pushed to their utmost, letting the attack land directly.
CLANG,
Sparks flew. The nails on the talons cracked and split. Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez's pupils snapped tight.
But in the next instant, blue light blazed. The massive claw hadn't been reinforcing itself all along, it had been holding back, and now it erupted all at once.
HISS HISS,
Ichigo's footing gave and he was forced to step back. Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez's massive blue claw wasn't dealing destruction, it was a driving force, shoving him backward.
"ROAR!"
Howls from Los Lobos erupted underfoot. Every grey wolf at Coyote Starrk's side simultaneously bit down on Ichigo's trouser legs, and at the same moment a tentacle thrust in from the side, that was the 8th Espada, Szayelaporro Granz, who had been motionless this entire time.
"What the hell?!"
The disgusting tentacle drove straight for Ichigo's navel. Ichigo frowned, didn't even bother with the Los Lobos about to detonate, and brought the short blade slashing down in an instant.
"Cascada!"
A tremendous torrent of water erupted from the great blade's surface, rushing toward Ichigo like a waterfall. The short blade stalled for a moment in the air, then came straight down regardless, letting the waterfall crash against his body.
"Tch!"
The tentacle was severed. Szayelaporro Granz hurriedly retreated. As Hueco Mundo's scientist, Szayelaporro Granz was poor at direct combat, and Ichigo had deliberately, or incidentally, crushed every last one of the Rokureichu Szayelaporro Granz used to collect battle data. Poking in with a tentacle to be a nuisance was already the limit of what Szayelaporro Granz could do.
BOOM BOOM!
Los Lobos howled. White light burst. An explosion several times more violent than the last erupted at Ichigo's feet, a terrifying pillar of fire shooting straight into the sky like a mushroom cloud, this was the No. 1 Espada Coyote Starrk's most powerful attack.
"Die!"
Endless black energy roiled across Baraggan Louisenbairn's body. It converged to a single point and flew toward Ichigo like a spike, staking the name of the King of Hueco Mundo on it, Baraggan Louisenbairn would make this accursed human pay.
WHOOSH,
The spike of black energy moved fast, cutting through the smoke of the explosion in an instant and driving straight toward Ichigo.
The terrifying explosion had already reached the destructive force of First-Class Spiritual Rank. Even with Hierro mastered and Blut Vene running alongside it, Ichigo was blasted into a sorry state, several wounds opened across his body, and the Shihakusho was reduced to tatters.
"Huh?!"
CLANG,
Ichigo had only just recovered from the explosion, eyes going wide. The spike was already there, striking dead center against his chest.
Intense black energy radiated continuously from the spike, eating through the Hierro and the Blut Vene alike. Even Ichigo felt a creeping chill, aging was the inescapable end of all things in the world. And Ichigo was no exception.
➤ Next: A Clear and Unobstructed Ichigo