Chapter 41

Immediately afterward—

"Clang!"

The golden Reishi ropes linked together and fused, quickly taking the form of the metal chains of Bakudō #63.

Tsuriboshi.

As a test subject for Haruto's "large-scale Bakudō," this technique could produce a great variety of binding spells. However, against an opponent on the giant Hollow's level, low-numbered Bakudō would quickly be broken.

The time it had taken the giant Hollow to break free of Hainawa and Sajō Sabaku had already confirmed that for him.

Haruto had no choice:

Dankū and Kyōmon were both Kidō numbered above eighty, but neither was a binding spell meant to restrain an opponent.

The only one he could use was Sajō Sabaku.

"Scattered beast bones"

And any Bakudō exerted its greatest suppressive force at the very start.

"Spire, red crystal, steel wheel"

Haruto had unleashed the largest Sajō Sabaku he had ever used, all to buy time for the full incantation of a high-level Hadō.

"Moving is wind, stopping is void"

The giant Hollow had the advantage in both speed and strength. Even with it restrained by Bakudō, Haruto wasn't about to approach it rashly—

He wasn't going to suffer for a trick he'd used to show off himself.

"The sound of clashing spears fills the empty city!"

And although his mastery of Zanka no Tachi was improving every day, he had made no substantial breakthrough in its range.

Haruto could only choose to treat his opponent to a lightning strike at maximum power.

"Hadō #63"

"Crackle!"

Thunder erupted from the ground!

Stray arcs of electricity became little snakes, slithering across the rugged, ruined ground... a strange sight caused by the sheer overwhelming power of the lightning.

"Raikōhō!"

"Boom!!"

The giant Hollow fell.

Its demonic mask shattered into countless fragments of varying sizes.

Some remained stuck to its face, while others dissolved into particles of Reishi light and vanished into the air as they flew apart.

The black curtain draped over its body had completely vanished in the brilliance of Raikōhō.

"Whew—"

Haruto let out a long breath.

"It's over."

Though Haruto had kept the giant Hollow on the defensive for almost the entire fight, the slightest mistake in carrying out his plan would have meant dying on the spot.

"Its Reiatsu wasn't as strong as a Gillian's, but in a fight to the death, this thing was probably tougher than a lot of Menos Grande."

"In other words."

"I've beaten a Vice-Captain-level opponent too... though one of the weaker ones."

Haruto could feel it.

He was another step closer to reaching Sixth-Class Spiritual Pressure. He probably wouldn't have to wait until he returned to Shin'ō Academy.

"..."

Haruto took one last look at the giant Hollow's corpse.

"Time to get out of here."

There were no spoils to collect from killing a Hollow.

"If Aizen is watching this place right now, there's no point in running."

"But if he happens not to be... I need to get as far away as possible. No matter what, he can't discover that I had anything to do with this!"

Haruto made his decision quickly.

However...

Just as he turned around and was about to leave.

"Crack."

A strange, faint sound reached Haruto's ears with perfect clarity.

Volume one: 027, who's bleeding all over the ground

"Crap!"

Haruto instantly realized what had happened.

He had made a serious mistake: since this giant Hollow, which could be called a lesser Arrancar, had mastered all kinds of weakened Menos Grande abilities, there was no reason it wouldn't have mastered a useful ability like High-Speed Regeneration.

There was a problem with Haruto's mindset too.

Though he had called it an evenly matched fight, after blowing up too many fish ponds, he could end up becoming a fish himself!

Haruto, who had never experienced defeat, had ultimately been careless when facing a new opponent:

Hollows didn't leave corpses. When they died, they directly dissolved into particles of Reishi light and vanished.

That cracking sound just now...

It was the sound of the giant Hollow's mask reforming and healing!

"Whoosh—"

The combined Kidō of Shōtenkyū and Tsuriboshi had vanished, and night had reclaimed the battered clearing.

Under the pitch-black night, a writhing shadow extended from where the giant Hollow had fallen, spreading unnoticed over the ground beneath Haruto's feet—

There was no time to react!

The black curtain... no, the cloak that had originally covered the giant Hollow, hadn't been torn apart by the lightning

at all. Using the smoke kicked up by the attack as cover, the giant Hollow had made the cloak appear to break apart and sent it out.

All for this moment!

"Whoosh!"

A blackness deeper than the night surrounded Haruto from every direction. Like Kurohitsugi, the despair and oppressive pressure closed in from the outside, sealing off every avenue of retreat and dealing a heavy blow to his mind.

Except—

"Above!"

The giant Hollow had turned the same move used against it back on Haruto. Not only that, it had even deliberately left an opening.

With its intelligence, it couldn't possibly have left such an obvious gap, so the way above could only be a trap.

But even if it was a trap, Haruto had to charge through!

The darkness closing in from all sides gave Haruto a very bad feeling. His instincts told him he absolutely must not touch those bizarre things.

So.

"Bang!"

The Reiatsu in his body rapidly gathered in his legs.

Two deep footprints were stomped into the already ruined ground.

The straw sandals he had received from the Ise Clan, after holding out for a full week, finally burst apart, their pieces scattering like butterflies.

"Swish!"

Haruto shot toward the sky at a speed he had never reached before. At this moment of life and death, even his Shunpo made a new breakthrough:

His speed had reached the minimum standard for Shunpo, enough to contend with the giant Hollow's half-step peak Great Perfection Sonído.

But!

The giant Hollow had been waiting for him.

At the very last moment, just as he was about to escape, its dome-like demonic mask covered the gap leading outside. Its ferocious, interlocking fangs opened above and below like an abyss, then bit down hard on Haruto's body!

"Squelch!"

Vivid red poured down like a rainstorm.

"Whoosh—"

Haruto fell with a sound like a tattered sack and landed spread-eagled.

"Thud!"

Pain.

Heart-piercing pain, in the literal sense.

The giant Hollow's bite hadn't severed Haruto at the waist, but it had left a gash running from his throat to his lower abdomen, deep enough to expose the bone... no, the injury went beyond merely exposing the bone. Not a single rib in his chest, which should have protected his internal organs, remained intact.

His lungs and heart.

The two most important organs in his upper body were separated from the summer night air, which was not cold, by only a thin chest membrane.

Even so.

The powerful impact from that blow had nearly knocked the breath out of Haruto... even his consciousness had become terribly hazy when his heart stopped for an instant.

"Hiss!"

Even breathing had become an unbearable act.

"I was careless. Didn't dodge."

Haruto could only focus his attention this way. Otherwise, the pain from his chest alone would have been enough to make him pass out.

"This is killing me!"

Haruto tried to prop himself up with his Zanpakuto, but with injuries like these, even the slightest movement was magnified many times over. Even Haruto, who had endured physical discomfort for years while training in Kidō and treated pain and numbness as casually as eating and drinking, couldn't withstand such unprecedented agony.

"Even at a time like this, there's still no response?"

Haruto's second reason for gripping his Zanpakuto was to see if he could release it at this moment of life and death.

Even with danger upon him, Haruto wasn't thinking about death, but about seeing what abilities his Zanpakuto had. Shikai wasn't an Arrancar's Resurrección; it didn't heal all his injuries upon release.

"My arms..."

"Forget swinging my Zanpakuto. I can barely even lift them."

Casting Kidō required both hands. In Haruto's current physical condition, he couldn't hope to successfully use either Raikōhō or Zanka no Tachi.

And.

The attack just now had also struck his Hakusui.

Though he hadn't consumed much Reiatsu, its disorderly state made it difficult to draw out as easily as usual.

Haruto used the last of his strength to raise his head and look at the giant Hollow strolling toward him. Its square mask clearly bore no expression, but its head was tilted like an innocent child's, giving Haruto a clear sense of its utterly mocking demeanor.

"Looks like..."

"I'm not the protagonist."

"Buzz!"