Help! I am bound to Aizen!

Chapter 167

Chapter 167

As soon as Kaelith spoke, the Zanpakut? spirit nearly burst out laughing from anger.

Right now, it was supposed to be her show of strength, her test for Kaelith.

How did it suddenly reverse, as if she needed to prove something to him?

She snorted coldly, wanting to ignore him and continue the fight.

But when she saw the mocking grin on Kaelith’s face, an intense feeling of displeasure surged within her.

“Damn it, I know it’s a trick!”

The Zanpakut? spirit took a deep breath.

“Fine, Kaelith, let’s see how you would use this power!

Listen up—if you’re just bluffing to deceive me, then forget about ever using my strength!”

Kaelith nodded lazily. “Yeah, yeah, got it.”

Seeing his casual attitude, the spirit felt her blood pressure rise.

She closed her eyes and conveyed her true name to Kaelith through a soul-to-soul communication.

Kaelith also closed his eyes.

With the Zanpakut?’s true name came a flood of related information entering his mind.

After seeing these fragmented memories, he finally understood why he had never been able to awaken his Zanpakut? properly yet still gained blade-release powers.

When he crossed into this world, the Zanpakut?’s power had already awakened.

However, his crossing wasn’t completed in one step.

When he reached a dimensional layer between worlds, his soul got stuck.

If he couldn’t move forward, he would have been swallowed by the world and completely erased.

To break through that final step, the Zanpakut? cut open a “membrane” in this world.

Through that opening, Kaelith escaped his fate of vanishing.

But in the process, the Zanpakut? was contaminated.

When the Soul King created this world, he threw a large amount of unmanageable negative existence outside the world in the form of shadows.

Kaelith’s Zanpakut?, corrupted by these shadows, had to go dormant.

During dormancy, the Zanpakut? found a way to compromise with the shadows.

That was to split itself into another “self” to bear the shadow’s power.

The original Zanpakut? became the “true blade”

The copy fused with the shadows became the “shadow blade”

Because it slept for so long, the Zanpakut?’s presence was almost completely covered by its shadow.

Back in the prison incident, when Kaelith faced Shinchira Renzosuke’s assault, in that emergency he managed to connect with the Zanpakut?.

He naturally pulled out the shadow blade.

As a split-off copy, the shadow blade also had sword-release powers but would never have a true name.

Understanding all this, Kaelith felt a bit moved.

He had always thought his greatest danger in this world was the fight against Kuchiki K?ga.

He never realized that he had previously survived a crisis far more dangerous than that.

Looking at the Zanpakut? stuck in the ground not far away, he stretched out his hand.

It immediately pulled free from the earth and flew toward him.

Pa!

Kaelith caught the blade.

Gazing at the blade’s gleaming surface, he nodded and said,

“Thank you.”

Not far away, the Zanpakut? spirit pursed her lips as she watched.

After his sincere gratitude, Kaelith raised his sword.

“Shatter defenses—Rixiang Jimie!” (t:/n see note)

Boom!!!

A pillar of spiritual pressure shot straight into the sky.

The initial Shikai release caused the surrounding air to tremble violently!

As the radiance faded, Kaelith’s arms became entwined with chains, just like the Zanpakut? spirit’s.

A pair of short blades appeared in his hands.

Whoosh!!

Blue flames danced to life along the blades.

The blade’s flames merged fiercely with the Shunk? flames on his shoulders and back. The sensation from the hilts, as if perfectly attuned to his will, felt oddly comforting.

Seeing Kaelith grasp her true form in his hands, the spirit’s eyes flashed with satisfaction.

She was curious—how would Kaelith use her?

Her greatest strength lay in the power to “break defenses.”

Spiritual pressure defenses, physical defenses, armor—

Any defense was meaningless before her power.

For most opponents, that was terrifying.

But if Kaelith thought he could use that trick against her, he was dreaming.

As the Zanpakut? itself, she knew best how to counter that ability.

Come on, what would he do?

Would he, like her, start attacking from a distance?

As the spirit pondered, Kaelith got used to the feel of dual blades, swung them a few times, and nodded in satisfaction.

The next moment, he stomped his foot.

In an instant, he went from a hundred meters away to right before the spirit!

Under her astonished gaze, Kaelith grinned, raised his two blades high,

and slashed down hard!

Clang!!!

Although she instinctively wanted to retreat, the spirit did not hesitate to raise her blades in defense.

Four blades collided, sending sparks flying.

Seeing Kaelith’s vicious grin, the spirit couldn’t help but feel like laughing bitterly inside.

What was she expecting?

Kaelith not enjoying close-quarters combat first would be strange indeed…

Since his overhead strike didn’t break through, Kaelith instantly changed tactics.

His arms, wielding the twin blades, wove a net of steel around the spirit’s body.

In an instant, azure-flamed blades rained down from all directions like raindrops.

The spirit quickly tracked Kaelith’s blade paths, parrying and intercepting his strikes.

In just a few seconds, the sound of blades clashing rang out dozens of times!

After a rapid flurry, Kaelith suddenly withdrew.

He retreated a short distance and nodded:

“I see.”

“Your ability can destroy defenses, but it’s not absolute.”

“If the opponent’s so-called ‘defense’ is actually for offense, it can’t be broken by your rules.”

“Thinking about it, if I hadn’t tried to block your blade with my arm at the start, and instead just punched you, the blade wouldn’t have caused nearly as much damage.”

Hearing Kaelith’s words, the spirit took a deep breath.

She gritted her teeth and said,

“When I gave you my true name, you should have known all this already!”

Kaelith laughed. “Not to brag, but I’m the type who skips the tutorial before playing a game.”

Rixiang Jimie: “…”

Her blood pressure soared.

What kind of master had she ended up with?!

Under her fiery stare, Kaelith nodded:

“Alright, the test is over.”

“Now I’ll show you the blade’s true power.”

Hearing this, Rixiang Jimie felt like complaining, but still took it more seriously.

She was genuinely curious—how could Kaelith possibly use this blade better than she, the Zanpakut? spirit who fully understood it?

Then she saw Kaelith close his eyes.

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T/n:

What do you think about the release line and name? The name comes from a combination of Chinese Buddhist terminology and together they can mean

"Emancipation from All Forms into peaceful annihilation (nirvana)."

or

“Transcending all forms to reach a state of peaceful annihilation"

In essence, it suggests breaking free from all external illusions and entering a profound stillness or ultimate liberation beyond worldly phenomena.