Slaying the Ninth Espada

Holding his Zanpakuto, Ye Yang Ye Yang chanted, "Break free from your shackles— Silver Rend!" He then charged towards the Ninth Espada, Zanpakuto to defend himself. But this time, things didn't go as he expected.

When Silver Rend and Nejibana were locked in close combat, Silver Rend actually severed Nejibana! To the astonishment of the Ninth Espada, Ye Yang's Zanpakuto appeared beside him.

Fortunately, the Ninth Espada reacted quickly and dodged to the vital spot at the critical moment. However, Ye Yang still managed to sever his right arm with a single blow, and blood gushed out.

"Damn it! He actually cut off my arm..." His face Zanpakuto. Ye Yang's Zanpakuto had severed his Zanpakuto, something he hadn't expected, which greatly reduced his strength.

Ye Yang said softly, "Well? I told you, once there's a first time, there will be a second. Alright, our game should end now."

The Ninth Espada remained silent for a long while before laughing instead of getting angry. "Hahaha... Yes, the game should end. I haven't used this state in a long time. You're one of the few who could push me to this point. If I devoured you, my strength would increase greatly!"

"You can give it a try," Ye Yang said with a smile.

The Ninth Espada drew his Zanpakuto, which had now transformed into Asauchi Zanpakuto. He chanted, "Devouring everything— Glotonería!" Instantly, his body underwent a tremendous transformation.

His left hand transformed into something resembling a tentacle, and then his lower body disappeared, replaced by a giant octopus monster with countless tentacles appearing before Ye Yang, with the upper body of the Ninth Espada standing above it.

He still looked like Kaien, and in his right hand he still held the Nejibana. He spoke, "Are you scared? I can Glotonería to enhance my abilities. These are the appearances of all the Hollows I've devoured so far! Don't think that our Espada's release is the same as those mediocre Arrancar."

"Is that so?" Ye Yang retorted with a cold smile.

"All the Menos Grande I've Glotonería will have their full power! I've devoured a total of 33,650 Hollows so far, which means you'll be facing an army of over 30,000 Menos Grande all by yourself in the next battle! Hahaha..." The Ninth Espada laughed arrogantly, already certain of victory.

Ye Yang remained disdainful. "While it's true that quantitative change can lead to qualitative change, it's useless in the face of absolute strength. It's truly the Miracle that you were able to enter the Espada with your strength."

"You bastard! I'll kill you!" he said, brandishing his Zanpakuto towards Ye Yang.

The battle was at its most intense. Although he couldn't even grab Ye Yang's clothes, Ye Yang couldn't do anything to him either. This was because he had too many tentacles; cutting off one or two wouldn't affect the battle at all, and his tentacles could regenerate.

Suddenly, Ye Yang used Shunpo to create distance. "Your abilities are indeed impressive, but they're still no match for me. Even if you possess regenerative abilities, you only have one head, right? You revealed your true form when the sunlight shone in just now. Those two spherical objects in that jar are your core, aren't they? If you shatter those..."

He momentarily panicked, but quickly regained his composure. Ye Yang caught this fleeting moment of unease and said softly, "Just as I thought. Ready to go to hell?"

"Hmph! You should be the one going to hell!" The Ninth Espada brandished his Zanpakuto and charged at Ye Yang.

Ye Yang, however, remained calm and unfazed, neither dodging nor moving. "Scared out of your wits? Hahaha..." But as his Zanpakuto approached Ye Yang, he discovered that Ye Yang was no longer there.

At this moment, Ye Yang appeared from the side. "In my opinion, you're not as good as you were before when you released your Zanpakuto. Although your strength has indeed increased a lot, don't you feel tired controlling such a huge body? In other words, can you still move quickly with such a large body?" As he spoke, Ye Yang easily dodged his attack once again.

His power did indeed increase significantly after unleashing his Zanpakuto, but his speed could no longer be as agile as before; this is what is meant by "you can't have everything."

If he was an unarmed adult before, now he is like a child wielding a giant axe, possessing great strength but unable to target his enemy, so having great strength is futile.

He suddenly burst into laughter. "Indeed, my speed has decreased, but my attack methods are countless and inexhaustible!" As he spoke, countless tentacles stabbed towards Ye Yang. His movement speed had decreased, but this did not mean that his attack speed had decreased. On the contrary, with so many more tentacles, his attack speed had increased by more than one level.

"How was it? How did it taste?" The Ninth Espada's face lit up with pleasure. "Didn't you say you were sending me to hell? Well, give it a try!"

Ye Yang had been on the defensive, and as the saying goes, prolonged defense inevitably leads to defeat. Just then, an opening was exposed, which Ye Yang seized upon. The upper body of the Ninth Espada personally stepped forward to kill Ye Yang, and a Zanpakuto plunged into Ye Yang's chest!

However, the Ninth Espada's face showed no joy, because what was hanging on his Zanpakuto wasn't Ye Yang, but merely a white Captain's Haori. At the same time, Ye Yang appeared before him, chanting, "Shihoin's Stealth Steps #3 — Utsusemi!"

With a skillful escape, Ye Yang dodged the attack, remaining only a dozen meters from the core of the Ninth Espada. A faint smile appeared on his lips before he abruptly vanished from the spot.

Ye Yang disappeared from the Ninth Espada's sight, and he immediately became alert. Years of experience told him that his life was in great danger! So he tried his best to escape.

But it was too late. Almost at the same time Ye Yang disappeared in front of him, Ye Yang's figure appeared behind him, and Ye Yang's Zanpakuto had already pierced his head. Everything happened in the blink of an eye. The Ninth Espada didn't even have time to react before it pierced through him. He was completely unaware when Ye Yang's Zanpakuto pierced him.

"How could this be... I actually died here..." Kaien's face had faded, leaving only the bottle-like object and the two cores inside. Ye Yang's slash went straight through the two cores, carving a "9" representing the Espada' number on the face of one of the cores.

The opening he just made was deliberately revealed by Ye Yang. Since Ye Yang had already pointed out his weakness, his true form had been keeping its distance from Ye Yang. Therefore, Ye Yang deliberately created an opening to lure him over.

Then, she used the Utsusemi to dodge the Ninth Espada's attack. At such a short distance, there was no way she could dodge Ye Yang's carefully prepared Senka! You have to know that Ye Yang's Senka is even faster than Byakuya's speed. Ye Yang dares to say that there are not many people who can dodge it at this distance of more than ten meters. Obviously, this Ninth Espada is not included. That's why Ye Yang was able to kill her with one blow!

Ye Yang said calmly, "I said I'd send you to hell, die!" Ye Yang swung his sword down, instantly cleaving his body in two. The massive body transformed into a shower of green water, instantly filling the entire room.

The two round cores fell to the ground, with a crack on them. It cried out in agony, "It hurts! It hurts so much! Save me, Lord Aizen! Didn't you say that as long as I followed you, you would free me from all this suffering? But what is happening? I don't want to die! I don't want to die!"

Its voice grew softer and softer before it split in two. The other half said hatefully, "Damn it, I will never die!" and then it too split in two.

Ye Yang jumped up, seemingly unwilling to be tainted by the filthy green liquid. His Zanpakuto then returned to its sheath as an Asauchi. He suddenly spoke to a corner, "Come out, Rukia."

Rukia had arrived here without anyone noticing. Seeing that she was not qualified to participate in this level of battle, and that she might be a burden to Ye Yang if she went up, she decided to observe from the shadows. However Rukia never expected to learn something that was of utmost importance to her.

"When did you arrive?" Ye Yang was too focused on the battle to notice when Rukia arrived, so Ye Yang didn't know if Rukia had heard about the Kaien.

Rukia jumped up and stood opposite Ye Yang, saying, "I arrived when the battle just started, Teacher Ye Yang. Is it true about Captain Kaien? Is Captain Kaien still alive?" As she spoke, Rukia's body trembled slightly, and her expression became somewhat agitated, because this matter was very important to her; Kaien was a very important person to her.

Ye Yang nodded slightly. "Yes, Kaien didn't die, he's in the World of the Living, but it's impossible for him to return to Soul Society right now."

"Really? That's great! Captain Kaien isn't dead yet. Teacher Ye Yang, could I ask you for a favor?" Rukia asked cautiously. She knew that Kaien was now Visored and naturally wouldn't be accepted by Soul Society.

Seeing Rukia's expression, how could Ye Yang not know what she was thinking? "Don't worry, after we resolve this matter, I'll definitely take you to see him. Before, we had to keep the news of Kaien a secret because it wouldn't end well whether Soul Society or Aizen found out."

Rukia bowed deeply to Ye Yang, "Thank you, Teacher Ye Yang."

"No need to thank me. I had no choice but to keep it from you before. Now that Aizen's conspiracy has been exposed, I should have taken you to see him a long time ago, but I've been too busy lately and forgot. Once Aizen's matter is resolved, Kaien will be able to return to Soul Society openly."