novelblue
Chapter 181
Chapter 181
Chapter 181
After swallowing a single Gillian, Szayelaporro’s wounds nearly fully healed.
He licked his lips and reached out again.
However, something moved even faster than him—a blade wreathed in blue flames.
With a long chain’s swift swing, Rixiang Jimie traced a huge arc across the battlefield, slicing every remaining Gillian in half.
Szayelaporro’s expression twisted with anger. He glared at Kaelith, fury etched on his face.
Kaelith opened his hand, allowing the chain to whip back around his arm. The short blades, still crackling with blue fire, returned to him. As they did, a flash of white light passed over them, and they reverted to ordinary Zanpakut?.
Gripping the blades, Kaelith instinctively started to throw them again, but caught himself mid-motion. Instead of hurling them outward, he stylishly slid them back into their sheaths. Seeing Szayelaporro gnash his teeth, Kaelith dug a finger into his ear.
“What’s with that look? Were you expecting your enemy to stand there like a disconnected statue, watching you heal up on the battlefield? Don’t understand such basic rules of combat, and you still show up for a fight?”
Szayelaporro’s eyelid twitched. He was about to claim he was a refined scholar, unlike these common brawlers, but before he could speak, Aizen interjected:
“Kaelith, don’t be so harsh. Considering he wants to take you back for experiments and he’s studying reishi toxins, he’s probably a researcher. Researchers in their immature stages often think ‘as long as I focus on my research, battle skills aren’t important.’ I had such thoughts too when I was very young.”
Aizen stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Hollows’ ages are hard to determine by appearance. Given his immature mindset, perhaps this one is still very young. Though lacking insight, he’s at least striving for his ideals, which is commendable.” (t/n; Oh, they are teaming up verbally as well now)
“Shut up!!!”
Szayelaporro roared, cutting him off. These two little brats, these mere Shinigami—how dare they insult the great Szayelaporro like this?
At least Kaelith’s mocking was straightforward. That quiet, refined-looking one pretended to defend him, but was even more despicable.
With growing anger, the four fleshy appendages behind Szayelaporro lashed out once more, moving at speeds impossible to follow with the naked eye.
“Die, Kaelith!”
Szayelaporro bellowed.
“Let’s see how much weight you carry!” Kaelith responded. Instead of using Rixiang Jimie, he flashed into the center of the battlefield and raised one arm. He pressed his fingers together, forming his hand into a blade.
In an instant, blue flames of Shunhon roared upward from his shoulder, converging at his hand to form a searing blade of fire.
“Flame Blade!”
A wave of fire shot from Kaelith’s hand, colliding with one of the appendages in a massive explosion.
Meanwhile, Kaelith’s shadow swordsman silently struck another appendage, delivering several slashes and leaving two deep wounds.
Szayelaporro’s eyes narrowed. He sensed no presence there—no Reiatsu fluctuations at all. What had hurt him?
As his attention shifted, Aizen acted like a living artillery platform, firing Kido one after another.
“Hado #73: S?ren S?katsui!”
“Hado #54: Haien!”
“Hado #63: Raik?h?!”
Kaelith, trailing a long tail of blue fire as he darted through the air, managed to spare a moment to glide over near Aizen. “S?suke, are you planning to transfer to the Kido Corps? All you do is cast Kido.”
“…?”
Aizen shot him a less-than-pleased look. Did Kaelith not realize why he was using Kido? Ky?ka Suigetsu’s ability wasn’t of much use in a head-on battle, so without relying on swordsmanship alone, Kido was all he had left.
Aizen silently took note, then responded: “What’s this? Because you’re unskilled in Kido due to negligence, you’re jealous when you see me using it?”
Kaelith blinked, then burst out laughing: “Ridiculous! I, Kaelith, am never inferior, even to you, Aizen! Want to see me use Kido? Fine, I’ll show you!”
He raised a finger, imitating Aizen’s earlier pose.
Seeing this, Aizen’s heart tightened slightly. Kaelith began chanting loudly:
“Veiled by murky crests, the unruly and arrogant prowess!”
Hearing this familiar incantation, Aizen’s eyelid twitched. Seriously?
Kaelith continued, “Tides surge, denial, paralysis in an instant, obstruct eternal slumber—crawling steel princess, self-mutilating clay dolls!”
Not far away, Szayelaporro’s face contorted in anger. They had ambushed him with that spell before, and now they wanted to do it again?
He summoned reishi light beneath his feet, preparing to use Sonído to escape.
Noticing his movement, Aizen moved. He used Shunpo to appear beside Szayelaporro, drawing Ky?ka Suigetsu and engaging him with powerful sword strikes to prevent him from escaping.
Szayelaporro expected to brush Aizen aside easily, but quickly realized this was no simple Lieutenant. Though his rank indicated otherwise, Aizen’s Reiatsu intensity was at a Vasto Lorde level. Had Szayelaporro not partially merged with Shinigami powers, he might have been suppressed outright.
More than the Reiatsu itself, it was Aizen’s monstrous tactical sense that disturbed him.
Aizen didn’t go for a reckless offense. Instead, he remained defensive, leaving no opening for Szayelaporro to push him away. If Szayelaporro tried to ignore Aizen and flee from Kaelith’s Kido, Aizen would instantly switch to offense, using his formidable Reiatsu for a devastating strike.
As Szayelaporro struggled to deal with Aizen, Kaelith’s chant continued:
“Combine, rebound, extend to the ground, know your own weakness!”
“Hado #90!”
“Kurohitsugi!”
With the final syllable, black spiritual pressure surged upward around Szayelaporro’s feet. Recognizing the familiar structure of the encroaching black box, Aizen realized Kaelith had truly mastered the 90th-level Kido.
For a moment, Aizen couldn’t help feeling a bit emotional. Was there anything Kaelith couldn’t do?
By now, Kurohitsugi’s walls were rising around Szayelaporro’s chest. In Kurohitsugi’s unique confinement, Szayelaporro had no way out.
Aizen prepared to retreat and muster another attack. But at that very moment, under his watchful gaze, Szayelaporro suddenly grinned.
Within the steadily forming black walls of Kurohitsugi, black liquid burst forth from behind Szayelaporro, rushing straight toward Aizen…