Breaking Her Wings

"She's too strong. Let's run!" Apache didn't want to lose anyone else, so she proposed the best strategy she could think of—fleeing the threat. "We can't beat her."

"That's too difficult..." The blue-haired Sun-Sun shook her head, her expression grave.

"She's faster than us. Far too fast. Cangya, remember what I told you... As long as you're alive, you can do anything. If you die, you can't do anything."

Sun-Sun could tell that the Arrancar Tirutī had initially wanted to capture Cangya alive, but his constant provocations had changed things.

Now the situation had become even more dangerous, and their lives hung in the balance.

"That hurts, doesn't it, kid?" Dordoni asked with a grin.

"Does it hurt enough to make you want to give up? You should know that if you do, your friends will all be killed."

Dordoni could see the fear in Sun-Sun and Apache's eyes, but they were unwavering in their determination to support their friend.

They were willing to face their fears to protect the people they cared about.

"Friends willing to sacrifice themselves for others... That kid is lucky."

He had once been like them, until the war took the lives of everyone he cared about.

Now he had no one worth sacrificing his life for.

As he stood there, memories of his previous life, filled with friendship and selfless devotion, seemed like a distant dream, growing ever further from the emotional bonds that had once sustained him.

Dordoni had been reborn as a demon in the fires of war.

"No way." Cangya closed his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the excruciating pain coursing through his body.

Even so, he opened his eyes and forced a faint smile. "Girls, it's just a minor injury. I can easily regenerate."

"A minor injury? Your arm was torn off!" Apache was nearly frantic with worry for their safety. "You're driving me crazy!"

Tier Harribel glared at the Espada.

Her mind raced, but she couldn't find a way out of this desperate situation.

She closed her eyes, then opened them again, determination rekindled in them.

"There's one way to get them out safely."

The act she hated most—sacrifice.

"Don't even think about it, Tier Harribel." Cangya interrupted her thoughts, as if he could read her mind.

Defiance and anger flashed in his eyes. "This is my fight. Stay out of it."

Tier Harribel stood there, too shocked to speak.

With his back to her, Cangya walked toward the place where he had been standing, even though the pain was unbearable.

Tirutī hovered above him, a condescending sneer on her face as she reveled in his pain.

She glanced at the severed arm twitching on the ground, challenging him to act.

"Can't take the pain, big guy? Then I'll do you a favor. Pick up your arm and heal yourself."

Her intention was obvious: she wanted to humiliate him completely and break his indomitable spirit.

Her arrogant attitude and mocking tone once again showed her conceit, reflecting her firm belief in her own superiority.

Cangya picked up his severed arm and held it close to his shoulder.

The Reiatsu remaining in the severed arm instinctively moved toward him. When the two forces connected, the arm was pulled back into its original position and reattached seamlessly.

Although his regeneration skill could regrow the arm completely, even after it had been severed.

The process could take days or even weeks.

When feeling returned to his left arm and fingers, Cangya breathed a sigh of relief. "Whew. I thought I'd lost an arm."

[Ability: Pain Resistance acquired.]

[Current mastery: basic.]

His experience had earned him a skill that would be useful in a prolonged battle.

"Ready to keep fighting?"

Cangya flexed his left arm and covered his knuckles with his Aspect of Death. "Let's continue the fight."

"I'm going to wipe that smug look off your face."

Tirutī beat her two pairs of wings and charged at Cangya.

Her Blade Wings attacked from both sides, ready to slice him to pieces.

But Cangya once again proved he was a step faster, deftly dodging her attack with Sonído.

In the blink of an eye, he teleported above her, evading the deadly Blade Wings that had just swept past.

"I only used two pairs of wings. It's pretty unfair of you to use four."

He reached out and stroked the middle sections of her Blade Wings, bringing his hands together in the center.

His Reiatsu left a hazy blue glow over her wings.

"Get off my back," she roared, trying to grab him with her long tail.

But he once again dodged her attack with an agile reaction.

She turned and glared at him, only to feel her wings growing heavier and heavier, until she could no longer control them.

Her smaller feathered wings couldn't keep her afloat either.

Tirutī began to descend, struggling to maintain her balance and grace.

She hurriedly gathered Reiatsu beneath her feet, keeping herself suspended in the air. "What did you do?!"

"Oh, don't play dumb," he said with a chuckle. "Fine, I'll explain it in a way even a child can understand. I increased the weight of your metal wings."

Since her wings weren't directly protected by Reiatsu, he could easily increase their weight with just a little of his own, effortlessly depriving her of one of her most powerful weapons.

The wings' simple structure made them easier for him to manipulate.

Tirutī tried to channel Reiatsu into her wings, hoping to eliminate his Aspect of Death, but it had no effect.

He had irreversibly changed the properties of her wings. "I really like them, but now I have no choice... Fine."

She shrugged indifferently, and her once-powerful Blade Wings fell to the ground, the sound of clashing metal echoing through the air.

The enormous white claws slipped from her hands.

Now all that remained were two long bones, the framework of her former wings, a pair of lighter wings, and a dangerous, whiplike tail that seemed to have a life of its own.

Cangya watched Tirutī with admiration.

Tirutī had changed her body's form without releasing her Resurrección, permanently damaging her Zanpakuto.

She could never use her Blade Wings and claws again, and more importantly, she could never return to her previous human form.

The price she had paid to defeat him was both shocking and admirable.

As an Espada, her unwavering pride would not allow her to back down, no matter what challenges she faced.

"Tirutī, no matter how annoying you are," he said, "I can't help admiring you."

"I don't need your pity or respect." Tirutī spat and lowered her head, her wild silver mane casting shadows over her sweat-covered face.

"I'm a soldier, a warrior. I'll defeat you and drag you before Baraggan, even if it costs me my life."

Tirutī's life had always been filled with stolen moments and borrowed time.

She had once wandered the desolate lands of Hueco Mundo, a purposeless Adjuchas who had torn at her own mask in vain, trying to escape her despair.

But she had survived and even evolved into an Arrancar.

It was the greatest mistake of her life, because Baraggan discovered her power and forced her to submit, making her one of his Espada.

Bound under his cruel rule, she obeyed his every whim like a puppet.

"I'll free you from Baraggan's oppression," Cangya said, his voice filled with compassion and resolve, "with your death."

Though he sympathized with her helplessness, they stood on opposing sides. He couldn't show her mercy.