Battle Against a Three-Digit Arrancar (Part Two)

Uryū Ishida adjusted his glasses, his gaze behind the lenses sharp and calm. He stared at Tirute's wings vibrating rapidly and the afterglow of the easily shattered Reishi arrows, his tone flat yet carrying a barely perceptible hint of determination:

"That's right. This high-frequency vibration perfectly counters the structural stability of traditional Reishi arrows, causing them to disintegrate upon contact. I had already anticipated this."

He paused, his fingers unconsciously tracing a hard object on his lower back, a complex emotion in his voice. "The reason I tried even knowing it wouldn't work is perhaps... just a bit of reluctance. After all, it means I have to use this... something I didn't really want to take out so soon."

As soon as he finished speaking, he reached behind him and pulled out a peculiar object from a specially made strap.

It was a silver cuboid about a foot long, made entirely of some strange material that was neither gold nor jade. Its surface was as smooth as a mirror, engraved with extremely precise pale blue patterns that seemed to contain the trajectory of stars. In the dim Warehouse light, it shimmered with a faint but pure halo. Its design was simple, even somewhat plain. Rather than a weapon, it resembled more of a component of a sophisticated instrument or an ancient ritual object.

"This item is called—'The Seele Schneider.'" Uryū Ishida's voice echoed clearly in the empty Warehouse, carrying an almost ritualistic solemnity. "It was something I casually took when I last stepped into my father's dusty Warehouse before leaving home... perhaps driven by my subconscious. It may be the only existing Quincy relic that most closely resembles a 'sword' in form."

He slowly channeled the pure Quincy Reiryoku within his body into the silver cuboid with a unique frequency and path.

In an instant, the air at the front of the cuboid was visibly distorted. Pure, almost blinding Reishi particles emerged from nothingness, converged, and compressed, eventually extending into a Reishi light blade about four feet long, as thin as a cicada's wing, and shimmering with light!

This light blade was not static; its edges seemed to have countless fine, vibrating ripples that exceeded the limits of visual perception, continuously spreading and emitting a faint, almost silent yet heart-pounding buzzing sound that penetrated the soul.

Tirute's smile, initially mocking and scrutinizing, froze slightly the moment she saw the "blade of light" take shape. But she quickly let out a giggle, masking her instinctive unease. "Oh? You think pulling out a new toy will change anything? The power sources of Arrancars, Soul Reaper, Quincy are on completely different levels!"

Before she could finish speaking, her wings suddenly flapped! No longer just a few tentative feathers, but dozens of feathers with sharp, knife-like edges and swirling with gray-purple Reiatsu. Like deadly locusts swept up by a gale, they tore through the air and shot towards Uryū Ishida from all sorts of tricky angles! The shrill sounds of the feathers cutting through the air created a continuous chorus, blocking all possible space for him to dodge.

Faced with this fierce offensive, Uryū Ishida remained calm. He didn't even move his feet much; he simply flicked his wrist with remarkable stability, seemingly casually swinging the "Seele Schneider" in his hand.

There was no earth-shattering, loud collision.

There was only a series of faint, almost inaudible hissing sounds, like shattering Ruri.

Those dozens of feather-like blades, imbued with the Reiatsu of Arrancar- level being capable of easily tearing through steel plates, instantly disintegrated and scattered upon contact with the seemingly thin blade of light at the tip of the "Seele Schneider," just as ice and snow met the blazing sun, or as crystal was thrown into a crusher!

They didn't even cause Uryū Ishida's arm to tremble slightly before turning into the most basic Reishi particles, dissipating in the air, failing to transmit even a trace of effective impact.

Tirute's smile vanished completely, replaced by an unprecedented solemnity and astonishment. She stared intently at the "sword" in Uryū Ishida's hand, silently burning with Reishi energy, her voice low and menacing. "To think... it could so easily shred my wings? Even my Reiatsu structure was directly shattered... This 'sword' of yours certainly isn't ordinary."

A surge of anger, tinged with genuine danger, rose within her. She ceased her long-range probing, her bat wings snapping back, and her petite figure burst forth with astonishing speed, leaving a ghostly trail as she hurtled towards Uryū Ishida!

In the instant she drew near, her right wing, like a giant curved scythe, slashed horizontally at Uryū Ishida's waist with a shrill whooshing sound and condensed gray-purple Reiatsu! The power and speed of this attack far surpassed the previous feather blade, intending to break the threat of that strange light blade through pure close combat and overwhelming power.

However, Uryū Ishida reacted even faster! Or rather, the essence of the Quincy's ultimate Hohō, "Hirenkyaku," was displayed to its fullest extent at this moment. His figure seemed weightless as he floated backward, narrowly avoiding the range of the wing blade's strike.

At the same time, as he drifted away, he flicked his wrist again, and the "Seele Schneider" transformed into a streak of light, precisely slicing through the edge of Tirute's wing as her attack missed.

"Whoosh--!"

Another series of dense, slight cracking sounds followed. Nearly a third of the length of the sharp feathers and the solidified Reiatsu surrounding the incredibly hard edge of Zanpakuto's wing blade, which was strong enough to withstand Soul Reaper 'Tirute, neatly "disappeared" like butter scraped by an invisible razor, revealing the slightly dull wing membrane and skeletal structure beneath.

Tirute quickly retreated, looking down at the shocking, smooth gash on her wing, her face turning extremely pale.

She could sense that the part that was cut off was not only the physical feather, but also the Reishi structure that constituted its existence and the Reiatsu attached to it. At the moment of contact, it was completely "decomposed" and "plundered" by a higher frequency and more domineering force.

"It seems... this form can no longer pose an effective threat to you." Tirute's voice was cold and resolute. Without the slightest hesitation, the pair of huge bat wings on her back suddenly trembled violently, making a muffled sound like leather tearing. Then, with a flash of light, the base of the wings, where they were connected to her back, actually detached completely!

The heavy wings crashed to the ground with a dull thud, quickly lost their luster, and began to dissipate into Reishi.

Seeing this, Uryū Ishida raised an eyebrow. "That's really... a convenient ability. It can be uninstalled just like that."

Tirute stretched her shoulders, which suddenly felt much lighter. Her face was expressionless, but a hint of pain and determination flashed deep in her eyes. "Convenient? Hmph... Once these wings are removed, it means a permanent loss."

The core Reiatsu structure within it is connected to my origin; the damage from forcibly separating it is something that can never be fully repaired or reconnected by any method in the future.

"Really?" Uryū Ishida pushed up his glasses, the glare obscuring his eyes. "Then... you're certainly decisive."

"Since it's already a useless burden, it should be discarded decisively." Tirute's tone was indifferent, as if what she was losing was not a part of her body, but an ill-fitting old garment.

As she spoke, the skin behind her tailbone suddenly tore open, and a thick, flexible tail covered with fine grayish-purple scales suddenly extended out! The end of the tail was not a spike or a hammer, but rather condensed into a huge fan-shaped Reishi blade with sharp edges, gleaming with a dangerous spiritual light, like a scorpion's sting or the Soul Reaper's giant scythe!

Shedding the burden of wings, Tirute's speed suddenly increased to a whole new level! With a push of her feet, leaving only a ripple of Reiatsu in her wake, she appeared beside Uryū Ishida as if by teleportation. Her long tail, carrying a huge fan-shaped Reishi blade, tore through the air with a shrill shriek, sweeping towards his waist! This time, the attack had a wider range, was faster, and had more concentrated power!

Uryū Ishida's pupils contracted slightly, and he activated the Hirenkyaku again, his figure drifting backward like a willow catkin in the wind, while simultaneously holding the "Seele Schneider" horizontally in front of him to block.

"Clang--!"

This time, a deafening clang, like metal clashing against metal, finally resounded! The fan-shaped Reishi blade collided violently with the light blade of the Seele Schneider, unleashing blinding sparks of Reishi! The terrifying shockwave sent dust and debris flying in all directions.

However, the stalemate lasted for less than half a second.

Tirute was astonished to see that her fan-shaped Reishi blade, powerful enough to cleave a small mountain and imbued with a massive amount of Arrancar Reiatsu, instantly broke open at the edge of the seemingly thin blade of light, as if being gnawed by an invisible file! The stable structure that made up the Reishi blade was being frantically disintegrated and absorbed!

Without hesitation, she abruptly pulled back her long tail, leaping several meters backward. She stared in astonishment at the shocking notch on her Reishi blade, and at the Reishi that were still dissipating from the notch, seemingly forcibly "taken away."

"How is this possible?!" For the first time, Tirute's voice was filled with disbelief and shock. "Even the Reiatsu structure of the 'Poison Sting Scythe' can... What is the principle behind this?!"

Uryū Ishida steadied himself, gently brushing away non-existent dust from his chest, and spoke calmly, as if stating a simple fact. "Sorry, I forgot to explain in detail earlier. One of the basic abilities of Quincy is to manipulate Reishi in the surrounding environment, absorbing and converting them to replenish their own energy, construct weapons, and launch attacks."

He raised the "Seele Schneider" in his hand, the silver cuboid appearing even more mysterious under the reflection of the Reishi light blade. "The 'Seele Schneider' takes a certain aspect of this characteristic and pushes it to a theoretical limit."

Its core is not sharpness, but 'decomposition' and 'assimilation'. Its blade is actually an ultra-high frequency Reishi vibration field, with a theoretical vibration frequency of more than three million times per second.

This frequency is sufficient to interfere with and destroy most stable structures composed of Reishi at the moment of contact—whether it's the Soul Reaper's Kidō, the Arrancar's Cero, or your kind of Reishi weaponry.

Seeing Tirute's increasingly grim expression, he continued, "While destroying the structure, the vibration field generates a powerful, directional flow of Reishi. This forcefully absorbs and captures the scattered, 'free' Reishi, using them as a core to instantly recombine and transform them into the 'Quincy Reiryoku' that constitutes this light blade. Simply put, it 'eats' your attack while simultaneously 'strengthening' itself with what it 'eats'."

Upon hearing this, Tirute's face darkened completely, her eyes blazing with fury and chilling killing intent. "Decompose Reishi structure? Absorb and transform? Hmph! So what! As long as I don't directly contact this damned 'blade' of yours! Ranged attacks, let's see how you 'eat' it!"

Before she finished speaking, her long tail rose again, and the broken fan-shaped Reishi blade at the end rapidly changed and reformed, instantly condensing into a long, sharp sword made entirely of highly concentrated gray-purple Reishi —the "Poison Sting Sword"!

With a flick of her arm, her long tail whipped out, and the Reishi sword shot out like a venomous snake imbued with life. It drew a tricky arc in the air, and with a speed and penetrating power far exceeding that of the previous feather blade, it pierced straight into Uryū Ishida's chest!

Faced with this incredibly swift Reishi sword strike aimed at creating distance, Uryū Ishida's response was unusually... "traditional".

He did not swing the "Seele Schneider" to block or slash again. Instead, he flipped his left hand, and the ancient-looking, powerful Reiatsu -containing Quincy: Letzt Stil Spirit Bow - "Ginrei Kojaku" - was already firmly in his hand. The bow body flowed with a star-like silver luster.

Then, he made a move that made Tirute's pupils shrink—he actually placed the "Seele Schneider" in his right hand, which emitted dangerous high-frequency fluctuations, on the bowstring of the "Ginrei Kojaku" as if it were an arrow!

"You...!" Tirute's internal alarm bells rang loudly.

Uryū Ishida adjusted his glasses, his gaze behind the lenses as calm as a deep pool, his voice reaching Tirute's ears clearly. "I must correct a misunderstanding of yours. The Quincy's orthodox weapons, since ancient times, have only ever taken one form—"

He drew the bowstring taut, and the bow and the "Seele Schneider" simultaneously emitted a dazzling pure white light, as if the two were creating a wondrous resonance.

"--That is, the 'bow'."

"Buzz--!"

The vibrating bowstring rang out like the clear cry of a divine bird!

The "Seele Schneider" nocked on the bowstring was not "shot" as an arrow. The instant the bowstring was released, the high-frequency vibrating Reishi light blade at its tip, as if injected with rocket propellant, burst forth with light! A pure white stream of light, condensed to its extreme and composed entirely of the laws of decomposition and recombination, erupted from the tip of the "Seele Schneider," striking the oncoming "Poison Sting Sword" with unparalleled precision!

There was no explosion, and no stalemate.

There was only a slight "sizzle" sound, like a hot knife cutting into butter.

The grayish-purple Reishi longsword, which contained a significant portion of Tirute's Reiatsu, disintegrated and vanished rapidly and silently from its tip, like a soap bubble in the sunlight, the moment it came into contact with the pure white light stream. It was greedily "devoured" and assimilated by the light stream, without even slowing down its speed in the slightest!

The pure white light stream swept through the air with unstoppable force, piercing through the Reiatsu shield that Tirute's utter horror!

"Ugh--!"

Tirute let out a short, painful groan as the force of the impact sent her flying backward, slamming her against a thick, heavy pillar in the distance, sending dust flying throughout the Warehouse.

She looked down at her abdomen, where there was no bloody wound, only a smooth-edged, eerily "melting" circular perforation. Strands of grayish-purple Reishi were uncontrollably dissipating and leaking away from the wound, as if being continuously disintegrated from the inside by some force. Intense pain and weakness originating from the very source of her spiritual body instantly overwhelmed her.

Uryū Ishida slowly put down the "Ginrei Kojaku," and the light of the "Seele Schneider" in his hand gradually faded, returning to its simple silver rectangular shape.

He watched quietly as Tirute curled up in the distance, writhing in pain and losing Reiatsu. There was no joy of victory on his face, only a calm after completing a planned tactic, and a fleeting, complex thought behind his glasses about the "relic" he had inherited from his father.