Chapter 135
Dark red blood soaked the earth like a stream.
"Oh?"
The silver-white blade was spotless, and the water clinging to its edge possessed far more than just the flowing water properties he had described.
Haruto stopped, sword in hand.
"You can even regenerate after being broken in two; your High-Speed Regeneration is impressive."
The heartfelt exclamations and praises, however, sent a chill down Adjuchas: the Soul Reaper before him couldn't possibly be unaware of his regenerative abilities; he merely intended to use this opportunity to torture and kill him—
To avenge the kinsman who fell to the ground.
"If you had just cut the Visored..."
Adjuchas began to probe with words, seeking an opportunity to break the deadlock.
"They might just kill me."
Haruto replied with a calm smile:
You're overthinking it.
"My Zanpakuto is indeed sharp, but it can't cut through everything."
"While your Reiatsu isn't much, Reiatsu concentration is at least two levels higher than mine."
"..."
Adjuchas failed.
He, who was trying to find Haruto's weakness, was now on the verge of being overwhelmed: on paper, it was stronger, and it had such a monstrous talent as spatial ability, so why was it being suppressed by a young Soul Reaper of the Fifth-Class Reii?
Haruto ignored Adjuchas's silence and continued speaking to himself:
"I wasn't confident just now that I could slice through your tough-looking Visored in one move. After all, I've failed at something similar before."
"But if I can't kill you even like this, I'll just have to find another place next time."
Haruto's mockery made Adjuchas's voice turn somber and hoarse:
"Soul Reaper, don't think this is all the power I have."
For the Menos Grande race, most battles rely on intuition rather than strategy, making them somewhat of an anomaly.
But since spatial abilities have lost their intended function and instead become a shackle that Shibari combat, Adjuchas might as well follow his instincts and fight.
"That body from just now..."
The flames in the eye sockets stopped burning and rising, and instead quickly compressed into the shape of real eyeballs.
"It was just an agile form that automatically transformed into to adapt to the Zanpakuto's abilities when fighting that vice-captain."
Along the lines on the torso and limbs, pale white bone armor began to emerge piece by piece from within the body.
A few seconds later, Adjuchas transformed into a humanoid monster whose body had swelled to more than twice its original size and whose entire body was covered in armor.
Compared to before.
The monster before them had more than doubled its Reiatsu intensity once again.
"How about it?"
"So overwhelmed by my true power that you can't even speak?"
Adjuchas stretched his arms, which were thicker than Haruto's thighs.
"No, I just wanted to ask..."
Haruto maintained the same demure smile as before.
Do you have a name?
"Um?"
Adjuchas was stunned for a moment; it completely failed to grasp the meaning of the question.
"How about we name Cell?... Your behavior reminds me of a character from a certain movie I remember."
The words had barely left his mouth.
"Whoosh!"
Haruto's body moved.
Sacrificing speed for strength and full-body defense... Since agility is already inferior, is he simply turning himself into an iron shell?
This guy...
They don't understand what sharpness means at all.
Shunpo, sword swing.
"Sizzle!!"
Sparks of electricity danced across the sky like fireworks.
The violent tearing sound of metal made one's eardrums tighten.
The Adjuchas Zanpakuto sliced through Adjuchas's defenses.
"?"
But...
As the blade penetrated deeper into the internal organs, it was clamped down from above and below by the living bone armor, which High-Speed Regeneration.
"I see."
Haruto tried to draw his Zanpakuto, but the powerful jaws of the bone armor prevented him from succeeding.
"Using this method to counter sharp weapons... if one's Reiatsu and speed were sufficient, it might even be enough to deal with Ōetsu's failed attempt."
Haruto praised.
"I don't know who Ōetsu is."
Adjuchas raised his arm, and his clenched fist glowed with a dense array of red light emanating from the Bala.
"But without this knife, things will be difficult for you, won't they?"
Even relatively weaker Bala would be badly damaged if hit by that many directly.
That's true.
Haruto nodded very seriously.
"But..."
"What gave you the illusion that you have the power to make me Zanpakuto?"
――――
Volume 1: Chapter 83, Tide!
"?"
Adjuchas's punching motion faltered.
It has already successfully locked onto the Zanpakuto, so why is this Soul Reaper still spouting nonsense?
Had its derivative bone armor not been so thick, the previous slash would have severed its body a second time; but it was precisely because the force of the opponent's strike was so deep that Adjuchas was certain that the creature before him could not possibly pull away this Zanpakuto—
Just as the opponent said, there is a significant difference in both their power and Reiatsu.
"Well."
Haruto let out a soft sigh.
At some point, his grip on the knife had changed to a reverse grip.
"He abandoned speed and innate abilities, deliberately transforming into this form, just to withstand my one-handed basic attack—"
"!?"
Adjuchas suddenly realized something was wrong.
This guy said before that his Zanpakuto ability is to imbue the target with the properties of flowing water.
However, that smooth, silky slash, as fluid as cutting cream, was actually a level cut that showed no real power other than flowing water.
You need to know.
The Kidō Soul Reaper before me is most skilled in the Kido fighting style!
If even Shunpo can be combined with the attributes of Zanpakuto, there's no reason why Kidō the Demonic Path) should be able to do so.
Is it worth it?
At such close range, it's too late for regrets.
"Zanka no Tachi"
The Reiatsu flowing along the hilt caused the blade to shimmer with a dazzling light.
The next moment.
"Puff!!"
Adjuchas's upper body, as sturdy as a hill, was thus launched into the air.
"Mix--"
"Click."
Before Adjuchas's roar and Bala could erupt simultaneously, Haruto blocked the Zanpakuto with his left hand.
"Bite."
The bluish hue clinging to the blade silently seeped into the back of the knife.
Reverse cut
Reverse blade strike.
"Rally, Seisen!"
The back of the blade, less than a finger's width, gently struck Adjuchas's head.
"Boom!!"
Their bodies were shattered to pieces, and blood rained down.
――――
"Whoosh!"
The habitual blood vibration didn't shake anything off.
Haruto's Zanpakuto's abilities mean that his swords rarely wear down, and he only needs to sheathe them afterward.
"Thump."
Haruto waved his hand and removed the blood-red Tōzanshō from his head.
The once gloomy and dark sky, with this simple wave, cast a brilliant golden light upon the ravaged earth—
The sun is coming out.
"..."
"Well done."
Haruto, walking towards Isane, seemed to recall something and spoke to Seisen, who was still in her sheath—
Zanpakuto did not respond to his Haruto.
"Hmph~"
Haruto's upturned lips became incredibly radiant in the sunlight.
"Then..."
Haruto tentatively squeezed the rough yet warm tip of the stem.
Please guide me in the future.