Bleach: Awakened — Chapter 93 - I Shall Call You the Strongest of the Espada
Ichigo had no idea what exactly had happened, but he knew this: the version of himself that now stood on the verge of perfection was strong. Terrifyingly strong. Even without Bankai, he felt certain he could cleave the Hogyoku apart and resolve the Valley of Screams crisis on his own.
"Not going to attack?"
He swept his gaze around. Two of the Espada were already gone. Five and Six had long since been reduced to battered wrecks. Eight appeared to have notably weaker combat ability. That giant, whether number ten or number zero, hard to say, had lost an arm, and the body was steadily shrinking.
As for the top four, without the pack to back them up, One's combat ability had fallen sharply. Two had burned through too much and would need considerable rest before resuming.
"That leaves only you two."
THUD,
Sonído. In the instant Tier Harribel's eyes went wide with terror, the short blade swept high and drove straight down.
CLANG,
By the narrowest of margins, Tier Harribel managed to raise the great sword and block. Sparks flew in every direction. In that same moment, a massive crack split the blade's surface, as though it would shatter in the very next instant.
"Tch!" Spiritual pressure surged. Tier Harribel roared: "Hirviendo!"
Ssss,
Scalding steam erupted from the sword's tip and swallowed Ichigo's vision. The scorching vapor made him squint. In the next instant the short blade in his left hand felt suddenly lighter, Tier Harribel had used Sonído to escape.
"A cheap trick."
The Espada's spiritual pressures were all clearly visible within his perception. When it came to Sonído, Ichigo was faster than any Arrancar who had evolved up from Vasto Lorde-class Hollows.
"The Espada have left me a little disappointed."
The long blade swept high. Ichigo looked at the beautiful Arrancar before him without expression, without a trace of hesitation, and drove the blade straight down?!
A powerful surge of spiritual pressure exploded from behind him. For just an instant, his motion froze. The raised blade halted.
In that razor-thin margin between life and death, Tier Harribel's mind entered overload. One thought and one thought only: escape. Get away, now.
The overwhelming will to survive drove the body into overload alongside the mind. Tier Harribel executed what was likely the fastest Sonído of an entire lifetime.
BOOM!
The long blade fell. It missed. But the terrifying force couldn't be reined in, the sword pressure split the white sand before Ichigo clean in two, carving a trench hundreds of meters long and hundreds of meters deep.
"A burst of latent power triggered by the brush with death."
"Hah... hah..."
Not far away, Tier Harribel gasped in great heaving gulps, drenched in cold sweat. That merciless strike, had it connected, it would have meant decapitation.
"So this is your limit."
Ichigo shook his head, disappointed in the Third Espada as well. Then he shifted his gaze to the one who had made him freeze for that instant.
"If anything, it's you—the lowest-ranked among the Vasto Lorde." He narrowed his eyes slightly. "The Fourth Espada. Ulquiorra Cifer, correct?"
"That isn't a power you were born with. You grasped it gradually, in the course of fighting me."
"Resurrección: Segunda Etapa."
The white clothing vanished. Upper body bare. Both arms and the lower half covered in black feathers. Two sharp horns shot straight up from the crown of the head. A long tail extended from behind. Ulquiorra Cifer stood motionless, expression blank, watching Ichigo in silence.
"That is what I call it."
"A parallel to a Soul Reaper's Bankai?" Watching the radically transformed Ulquiorra, Ichigo said evenly. "More precisely—the release of power at a deeper level within yourself."
"From this alone, your potential as an Arrancar may exceed all three who rank above you."
No reply. Spiritual pressure condensed in Ulquiorra's hand. A blue lance-shaped weapon materialized, noticeably stronger than the previous one.
"Barely crossed the threshold of high-grade..." Ichigo sensed it carefully, a faint smile at the corner of his mouth. "By Rei'i classification, that puts you at the First-Class Spiritual Rank. Setting aside the one who wrecked himself..."
"In all of Hueco Mundo, you alone have reached this level. But compared to Soul Reapers, you're still far too weak."
"Whether I am weak or not—fight me and find out."
The right foot shifted slightly back. The lance held behind the head. Ulquiorra's spiritual pressure pushed to its absolute limit. Those emotionless eyes locked onto Ichigo without blinking. Then, in the next instant, the lance was hurled forward.
WHOOSH,
Ichigo tilted his head. The lance, carrying its dreadful force, grazed past his ear, shearing off a few strands of hair.
BOOM!
The explosion erupted from behind him. The lance struck the ground over a thousand meters away and detonated. The shockwave rolled forward and billowed the white Captain's Haori at Ichigo's back, the large character on it rippling in the wind.
"Decent power. The aim is terrible, not skilled enough yet, is that it?" Ichigo commented flatly. "With that level of strength, as long as you don't run into the old man, a handful of captains could defeat you at most. Actually killing you would still be quite the challenge."
"If all the top four Espada could reach this level, perhaps they could actually hold their own against the Soul Reapers."
Still nothing. Blue light flickered once more in Ulquiorra's palm. The lance coalesced, complete. The throwing motion began?!
"Too slow."
Eyes going wide. The distance had been nearly a hundred meters, but Ichigo appeared at Ulquiorra's back in the span of a blink, long blade raised high.
SLASH,
The right arm fell. Clean. The lance, now uncontrolled, dropped to the ground. Ichigo had already stepped back several paces, he'd been caught in the blast too many times already, and had no intention of coming out a mess again.
BOOM!
The thunderous roar rang out once more. Thick white smoke billowed upward. The shockwave forced the surrounding Espada to stagger back. Five and Six, already gravely wounded, were blown tumbling head over heels across the ground several times before finally coming to rest.
WHOOSH,
A black figure burst through the white smoke. Ulquiorra, missing the right arm, showed no change in expression. Black markings had appeared across the body. The left wing was half gone. The right wing bore wounds of varying size scattered across it.
In the instant before the explosion, the wings at Ulquiorra's back had flared with sudden force, carrying Ulquiorra clear of the blast's center while shielding the body.
"Not bad."
The voice came from right beside an ear, light and unhurried. Ulquiorra spun around. Ichigo stood there watching with a faint smile. The shadow of death crashed down in an instant.
"If you can take this strike and still not die..."
The long blade rose high. Ichigo's face held a smile, but his eyes were utterly cold. In this moment he didn't look like a boy of fifteen or sixteen. He looked like a warrior, one who was gradually coming into his own.
"Then I'd call you the strongest of all the Espada."
➤ Next: The Silent Espada