Battle Against the Espada (2)
Rukia Kuchiki's battle with Aaroniero Erurueri has been going on for some time.
Liu Hao kept his promise to "practice" and did not intervene, but he also did not stray far away. Instead, he and Uryū Ishida and the others maintained a distance from the battlefield that was neither too close nor too far, so that they could observe and provide support at any time, and also guard against the spatial segmentation traps that might reappear. He calmly watched the battle, like a strict examiner.
During the battle, seeing that ordinary attacks were insufficient to quickly subdue this troublesome Soul Reaper girl with ice-type abilities, Aaroniero resorted to his usual tactic. He raised his hand and slowly removed the white mask that covered his entire head.
What was revealed beneath the mask was not the grotesque Hollow face one might expect, but a face belonging to a Soul Reaper that made Rukia Kuchiki's pupils shrink—the face of the deceased Third Seat, who had once belonged to the Thirteenth Division! This face, bearing the unique fortitude of a deceased person, now appeared on an Arrancar, making it seem incredibly eerie and blasphemous.
Aaroniero spoke in Shiba Miyako's voice, trying to disturb Rukia's concentration. "Rukia... what are you thinking? Although I was devoured by that Hollow, I also..."
"Shut up!" Rukia Kuchiki's cold voice, laced with suppressed anger, ruthlessly interrupted him. "Don't defile the faces of the dead with your clumsy disguise and imitation! I know your ability— 'Gluttony,' which allows you to acquire the forms, memories, and abilities of other Hollows by devouring them. This face is nothing more than a remnant of one of your prey!"
Caught off guard, Aaroniero's expression twisted instantly, her gentle demeanor turning into a ferocious grin. "It seems... you truly possess considerable intelligence. Since your pretense is ineffective, there's no need to waste any more words!"
He ceased to maintain his human form, and his physical appearance began to undergo a dramatic change!
"Devour— Gluttony!"
Accompanied by the words of liberation, his lower body rapidly expanded and twisted as if inflated, instantly transforming into a gigantic, disgusting monster composed of countless tentacles, tumors, irregular cavities, and ferocious mouthparts!
Countless tentacles covered in slime thrashed wildly in the air. The main body could still vaguely make out the outline of the glass bottle from before, but now it was filled with countless blurry, wailing void faces.
Aaroniero's voice became frantic and arrogant, emanating from multiple vocal cavities within the monster's main body. "So what if you know my abilities?! I am a 'Gluttony' who has devoured and fused with a full thirty-three thousand six hundred and fifty Hollows!"
All their abilities, combat experience, and Reiatsu characteristics are at my disposal! I am the only one among the Espada who can infinitely 'evolve' and infinitely 'learn'! This is what makes me, a 'Gillian,' able to surpass so many 'Vasto Lorde' and be ranked among the Espada!
Despite the repulsive monstrous form and arrogant declaration, Rukia Kuchiki's expression remained cold, even carrying a hint of disdain. "So what?"
"How about it?!" Enraged by this dismissive attitude, Aaroniero's tentacles split open, forming enormous mouths. He began frantically gathering a high concentration of Reiatsu, and a grayish-purple sphere of Cero rapidly took shape! "I'll use just a fraction of these 33,650 units of power to utterly annihilate you!"
Several Cero simultaneously struck Rukia Kuchiki from different angles!
"Second Dance - White Ripples!"
Rukia reacted with lightning speed, spinning around as her Sode no Shirayuki traced a graceful arc, unleashing a thick, spiraling torrent of ice that didn't directly clash with the Cero, but instead precisely struck Aaroniero's main tentacle, which was condensing the Cero! The extreme cold instantly spread, freezing and encasing the tentacles along with the still-forming Cero sphere!
"Not bad reaction and precision!" Aaroniero chuckled, his frozen tentacles jerking violently, Cero on their surface. Although his Cero was interrupted, he was unconcerned. "However, this level of freezing is nothing more than a slight delay for my body, which possesses countless resistances to Void energy!"
Before she finished speaking, even more and thicker tentacles swarmed out from under and to the sides of the monster's body, like giant octopus tentacles, carrying a howling wind and sticky venom, and swept towards Rukia Kuchiki from all directions!
Rukia moved nimbly through the gaps between the tentacles with a series of quick, swift steps, while her Sode no Sode no Shirayuki blade flashed out Shunpo, severing the approaching tentacles and scattering ice crystals. She didn't just launch a direct attack, but instead moved at high speed around the massive monster's body. With each step, the tip of Sode no Shirayuki's blade would lightly touch the ground, leaving behind a small patch of rapidly spreading ice crystals.
Sever, freeze, move, freeze again... Her movements were methodical, as if she were setting up a huge trap. Although Aaroniero's tentacle attacks and scattered Cero were fierce, they could not truly threaten Rukia exquisite ice-type Shunpo and defense. Instead, parts of his limbs were constantly frozen by her, and his movements were gradually hampered.
Finally, as Rukia nearly completed a lap around Aaroniero's massive body, the ice crystal traces she had quietly laid out earlier, guided by her Reiryoku, connected on the ground to form a huge, complex, and chilling ice ring magic circle, encompassing Aaroniero and his countless tentacles!
Rukia stopped at a crucial point in the magic circle, her hands gripping the Sode no Shirayuki tightly, the tip of her blade pointing downwards, deeply embedded in the ice ring. She uttered a low growl, "I don't have many moves, but under Liu Hao's guidance and special training, I've specifically honed this technique of sealing and ending, tailored to your 'infinite evolution' and 'devouring learning' characteristics—"
"Three Dances: Ice Cage!"
"Zheng--!"
The Sode no Shirayuki inserted into the ice ring emitted a clear, melodious hum! In an instant, the massive ice ring magic circle on the ground erupted with a blinding, pure white light! The light, like living vines, spread wildly, climbed, and permeated every tentacle, every tumor, and every inch of the Aaroniero monster's body! The extreme cold did not freeze from the outside, but erupted from within, instantly eroding and solidifying its spiritual structure and Reiatsu flow!
"Click, click, click..."
A series of sickening freezing sounds rang out! In the blink of an eye, the enormous monster "Gluttony," which had just been baring its fangs and acting arrogantly, along with the countless Hollow faces churning inside, was completely sealed inside a magnificent yet deadly, crystal-clear iceberg, tens of meters high, radiating an aura of absolute zero! Inside the iceberg, Aaroniero's shocked, resentful, and twisted expression was frozen in time.
Rukia slightly out of breath, sweat beading on her forehead. This attack had taken a huge toll. Looking at the iceberg cage before her, a work of art in itself, she breathed a sigh of relief, released the Shikai of Sode no Shirayuki Zanpakuto, which had returned to its Asauchi form. She turned and prepared to walk toward Liu Hao and the others.
However--
The instant she turned around, inside the massive iceberg behind her, at the heart of the frozen monster (if it had a heart), the glass-bottled spirit core belonging to Aaroniero's true form suddenly developed extremely fine, blood vessel-like cracks on its surface! A deep, venomous will, willing to destroy part of its core to break free, suddenly erupted!
"Crack--Boom!!"
Ikkaku of the iceberg cage suddenly shattered! It wasn't a complete collapse, but rather the root of one of the thickest, frozen tentacles, propelled by Aaroniero's last burst of Reiatsu, forcefully broke through the ice covering it. Like a dying viper, it moved with several times greater speed, carrying its remaining power, transforming into a gray-purple death spike that viciously stabbed towards the back of the unsuspecting Rukia Kuchiki, who had her back to it!
The change was too sudden, the distance too close, and the speed too fast! When Rukia Kuchiki heard the sound of ice cracking and turned around, the deadly spike was already inches away. Her pupils contracted, but due to the exhaustion and relaxation caused by the previous powerful attack, her body was too weak to make an effective dodge or defense!
"Rukia!" Uryū Ishida cried out in alarm, his Spirit Bow instantly appearing in his hand, but it was too late!
Pesche and Dondochakka were terrified.
In that critical moment, when life and death were decided—
Liu Hao, who had been standing still watching the battle, moved.
There was no earth-shattering burst of Reiatsu, no lengthy incantations, and no dazzling light and shadow.
Only a blurry afterimage, faster than the limits of visual perception, like a black lightning bolt tearing through space, vanished from its original spot, and then, in the next instant, seemed to appear out of thin air between Rukia Kuchiki and the deadly spike!
No one saw how he moved or how he drew his sword.
A crisp, short sound rang out, like the shattering of Ruri or the clanging of gold and jade.
"Zheng!"
A dark arc of light, so condensed it seemed capable of severing even the light itself, flashed and disappeared in the air.
Time seemed to stretch out and freeze at this moment.
Liu Hao's figure, still slightly leaning forward after drawing his sword and slashing, appeared on the other side of the massive ice cage of Aaroniero, his back to the broken area where ice crystals were still splashing.
His right hand moved with fluid and steady speed, slowly returning the ancient-looking, dark-colored, blade-like sword— the Imperial Sword —to its black scabbard at his waist. The scabbard closed with a soft "click," which was particularly clear in the silent hall.
Until this moment--
"Pfft!"
The grayish-purple spiked tentacle, imbued with Aaroniero's last strength, that had been aimed at Rukia, severed cleanly at the root less than half a foot from Rukia back! The cut was as smooth as a mirror, and the grayish-purple Reiatsu gushed out like blood released from its pressure, before quickly dimming and dissipating.
At the same time.
"Crack!"
Inside the core of that enormous iceberg cage, at the location of the glass bottle-shaped spirit core, a thin, straight black line quietly appeared. Then, the entire spirit core, along with the two intertwined skull phantoms inside, silently split into two even halves! At the crack, there was no leakage of Reiatsu, as if a part of its existence had been conceptually "erased".
Immediately following, like a chain reaction, terrifying cracks spread from the cracked spirit core to the entire iceberg cage, and then to every corner of the frozen, enormous monster body of Aaroniero!
There was no earth-shattering explosion.
There was only a soft sigh, like the wind scattering a sandcastle.
The entire iceberg, along with the NO.9 Espada, Aaroniero Erurueri, sealed inside, began to disintegrate and dissipate from the most basic Reishi structure level under the influence of the "severing" concept lingering from the dark arc light.
They transformed into countless crystalline, shimmering particles of Reishi dust, like snowflakes melting in the winter sun, or like the thin mist dissipating in the morning light, silently and irreversibly drifting and dissolving into the cold air of the empty hall, leaving no trace of their existence.
The hall was deathly silent.
Only after Liu Hao sheathed his sword did the steady, unchanging sound of his footsteps gently resound.
Rukia Kuchiki stared blankly at the drifting Reishi dust before her, then slowly turned her head to look at her red-haired companion standing tall and calmly against the backdrop of falling dust. The shock of narrowly escaping death just moments before, intertwined with the disorientation of surviving this ordeal, left her speechless for a moment.
Uryū Ishida adjusted his glasses, his gaze behind the lenses fixed intently on Liu Hao's profile as he sheathed his sword. That seemingly ordinary slash contained speed, precision, and terrifyingly controlled power, which deeply shocked even this Quincy genius.
Pesche and Dondochakka stared wide-eyed, speechless for a long time. Although they knew that Lord Liu Hao was very strong, his strength to the point of... effortlessly killing (finishing off) the Espada was still beyond their comprehension.
Liu Hao's figure landed back on the ground as lightly as a feather, without making a sound. He walked to the still somewhat dazed Rukia Kuchiki, raised his hand, flicked his finger, and lightly tapped her forehead.
Thump.
The crisp sound brought Rukia back to her senses with a cry of "Ouch!" She covered her forehead, her purplish-gray eyes filled with confusion and grievance as she looked at Liu Hao.
Liu Hao looked at her, his face showing no sternness, but his tone carried the unquestionable seriousness of a master reprimanding a disciple. "Rukia, when did you learn this flashy but impractical 'bad habit' from that brat Renji? Turning away rashly, sheathing your sword, and exposing your back to the battlefield before the enemy is completely dead and your Reiatsu has fully dissipated—this is the most basic mistake in a real life-or-death battle, and you'll often pay for it with your life."
His gaze swept over the spot where Aaroniero had vanished, where only a few specks of Reishi dust remained, about to completely dissolve into the air. "You think freezing and sealing are equivalent to 'the end'? For enemies with special abilities, especially those whose core is 'devouring' and 'evolution,' any non-lethal control could become their chance to turn the tide. If I hadn't been watching closely the whole time, you would be a cold corpse by now from that last counterattack."