Battle Against the Espada (5)

Szayelaporro Granz's murderous gaze, capable of freezing souls, was like two poisoned ice spikes, firmly fixed on Renji Abarai and Yasutora Sado in the center of the ruins. The Reiatsu permeating the air was so thick it was almost tangible, every strand imbued with the frenzied rage and deep-seated hatred of the destroyed laboratory.

However, in this heart-stopping predicament, Renji Abarai twitched his lips, revealing a wild and untamed smile that was completely at odds with his wounded and disheveled appearance. He tilted his head slightly, his voice low but clearly reaching Yasutora Sado's ears beside him. "Hey, Chad... can you feel it?"

Yasutora Sado stood as still as a rock, his muscles taut, his bronze face expressionless, intently watching for any slight movement from Szayelaporro. Hearing this, he furrowed his thick brows slightly and calmly asked, "What?"

"Reiatsu! It's our Reiatsu!" Renji said quickly, annoyed, but a glimmer of hope flickered in his eyes, which were always burning with fighting spirit. "Sense it carefully! It's Liu Hao's Reiatsu, and Rukia's! They're rushing this way at full speed!"

Chad did as instructed, immediately calming his mind and spreading his keen senses out like a spider web. At first, the surroundings were completely filled with Szayelaporro's violent, twisted, and malicious Reiatsu, as if he were in the heart of a raging storm.

But when he focused his will and pierced through this suffocating "noise" as if diving into the deep sea, he indeed caught several incredibly familiar, warm fluctuations, as clear as lighthouses in the night, deep within the Las Noches.

They are converging into a resolute torrent, tearing through the silence of Hueco Mundo at an astonishing speed, fearlessly advancing towards the ruined battlefield where they are.

"Yes, very strong. They're here." Chad nodded, a hint of relaxation in his deep voice, and his tense shoulders slumped slightly.

Without a word, the two turned their heads almost simultaneously, their gazes passing over the billowing smoke and shattered metal debris, and landing deep within the pale and eerie complex of buildings. On the side of a particularly tall tower, shaped like a pale sword, a huge, jagged hole, as if torn open by some brute force, was clearly visible.

The moment their gazes focused, four figures, like birds of Reiatsu breaking free from their cages, burst forth from the hole one after another, their Hueco Mundo trailing long streaks as they relentlessly advanced towards their location at full speed!

The Reiatsu at the forefront was profound and boundless, carrying a unique aura that seemed to encompass all things and devour everything—it was Liu Hao!

"Ha! Just in time!" Renji couldn't help but let out a low growl, a huge weight lifted from his heart. But the instincts honed through years of combat instantly raised his vigilance to the highest level. The arrival of reinforcements often meant the enemy's most frantic and reckless counterattack!

His premonition came true instantly. Almost at the same moment they sensed the Reiatsu of the reinforcements, Szayelaporro Granz, who was hovering in mid-air with his giant butterfly wings slowly flapping, suddenly raised his head.

The raging anger and madness that had been burning in his heterochromatic eyes were instantly extinguished as if doused with ice water, transforming into a deeper and more dangerous solemnity.

The powerful Reiatsu rapidly approaching from afar, especially the leading one whose aura had left a deep "research impression" on him, immediately made him realize that the leisurely time of the cat-and-mouse game was over, and a real threat was approaching.

"A nauseating Reiatsu resonance..." Szayelaporro's voice was icy cold, devoid of any human emotion. He withdrew his gaze from the distance, fixing it once more on Renji and Chad like shackles, a cold, almost mechanical smirk playing on his lips. "It seems you two disobedient 'samples' have unexpectedly attracted some troublesome 'observers.' However—"

The Fornicarás's Wings on his back suddenly stretched out to their maximum extent, instantly obscuring a small patch of sky. The eerie purple patterns on the wing membranes bulged and glowed like blood vessels, and viscous black Reishi rolled and dripped like living ink. A Reiatsu storm, far more sinister and corrosive than before, erupted from his center, whipping up countless fragments of stone from the ground!

"--You wouldn't be so foolish as to think I'd stand still and wait to be besieged like some third-rate supporting character in a drama, would you?" Szayelaporro's voice suddenly rose, piercing through the Reiatsu with a resolute determination to wipe them out. "Before those troublesome flies truly disrupt the situation, I will thoroughly 'recycle and seal away' you two most valuable 'raw materials.' Time... remains my domain!"

"Chad! Come over here!" Renji's sense of danger was like that of a wild beast; he the Roar the moment Szayelaporro spoke! To fight on the ground against this Espada, who possessed absolute air superiority and unpredictable abilities, would undoubtedly be suicide.

Before the roar had even faded, Renji had already leaped vertically upwards like a cannonball! He wasn't jumping blindly; rather, at the moment of takeoff, the Reiatsu beneath his feet was violently compressed and exploded, as if he were stepping on an invisible spring pad, creating a visible ring-shaped shockwave that provided him with a fulcrum for secondary acceleration and changing direction.

At the same time, his mind raced, and the giant skull snake head at the very tip of the Baboon King Zabimaru, which was coiled around him like an ancient python, reached down with astonishing agility and speed, precisely and steadily lifting Yasutora Sado's burly and heavy body, which had jumped almost in sync with him, and raising it to a higher, safer area.

Just as their shoes left the broken ground, and their bodies were still struggling to climb upwards in mid-air—

Boom!

The ruins where they had stood and the surrounding area suddenly bulged upwards, like a volcano about to erupt, and then completely burst open! It wasn't an energy explosion, but rather some much larger, softer, and more malevolent living thing bursting forth from the ground!

Several "giant leaves"—deep purple to almost black in color, with a texture between biological keratin and hardened resin, sharp as knives and covered with wriggling suckers—clearly mimicking extensions of Szayelaporro's "Fornicarás's " wings—like Venus flytraps from the depths of Hell, tore through all obstacles with overwhelming force, menacingly emerging from the ground!

These mimicking "predatory wings" moved faster than the limits of retinal detection. The moment they burst from the ground, their tips weren't spikes, but rather they billowed outwards like the most voracious carnivorous plants! Their internal structure was horrifying: covered in spirally arranged, ghastly white, sharp teeth, and countless wildly beating tentacles secreting a highly corrosive, shimmering greenish-blue slime! Their outstretched wings were exaggeratedly large, forming purplish-black death cages, carrying a vicious intent to devour, corrode, and absorb all living things above, relentlessly encircling and strangling Renji and Chad, who hadn't yet reached a safe altitude!

A pungent, foul odor instantly filled the air—the smell of putrid Reishi mixed with biological acid. Rapidly closing, purplish-black "petals" of shadow, like a veil of Soul Reaper, instantly obscured all escape routes beneath them.

"Tch!" Szayelaporro watched as his meticulously planned, near-perfect underground ambush was narrowly evaded by the two men through their split-second reactions and perfect teamwork. His mask of scientific composure shattered completely, his face darkened to the point of being almost dripping with water, and the cold light in his eyes intensified.

The attack missed, but Szayelaporro's offensive continued relentlessly, like a whirlwind!

"It's not over yet! Chad, get ready!" Renji, who had just narrowly escaped death mid-air, roared. He swung the hilt of the Baboon King Zabimaru, and the enormous skeletal serpent emitted a teeth-grinding grinding sound. Its head was raised to the sky, its huge mouth opened, and a crimson, incomparably violent Reiatsu gathered, compressed, and transformed within it like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea!

"Hikotsu Taihō!!"

A beam of intensely concentrated, crimson Reiatsu, as large as a small meteorite and as fiery as lava, erupted from the serpent's mouth like the Roar of a dormant volcano awakening! Wherever the beam passed, the air was ionized, crackling and popping, carrying destructive energy capable of incinerating everything, and with an overwhelming force, it crashed into Szayelaporro, who was suspended in the air!

Almost simultaneously, Yasutora Sado, who was steadily supported at an even higher position by the Zabimaru skeleton, also completed his power-gathering. He was in mid-air, as stable as a mountain, and the dark red pattern of the "Giant's Right Arm" on his right arm shone so brightly that it seemed as if lava was flowing within it. All the power in his body was twisted into an invincible torrent, and he lowered his waist and sat down, throwing a punch without holding back in the direction of Szayelaporro!

"Giant's Strike!"

A deep blue Reiatsu fist aura, condensed to its extreme, with its edges even glowing with a blazing white light due to the excessive concentration of energy, struck first, forming a pincer attack with the thick crimson pillar of light below! This fist aura was smaller than the Hikotsu Taihō, but its penetrating power and destructive vibrations were even more terrifying.

Two attacks, one a violent, wide-area crushing assault, the other a focused, point-like attack that pierced through defenses, intertwined to create an unavoidable, destructive duet, determined to completely devour and annihilate Szayelaporro's figure!

However, faced with this all-out attack from a combined force that would force any Espada (excluding the top three) to take seriously and could even result in injury, Szayelaporro Granz merely lifted his eyelids impatiently.

He didn't even make any gesture of blocking or dodging; he simply hovered there quietly, as if what was coming towards him was not destructive energy, but a trivial breeze.

Just as the crimson Reiatsu cannon and the deep blue fist energy were about to touch the area within a few meters in front of him—

An unbelievable scene unfolded.

There was no earth-shattering energy collision, no deafening explosion, no dazzling burst of Reishi light. The two powerful attacks, capable of moving mountains and filling seas, seemed to have struck an absolutely invisible yet absolutely existent "Wall of Sighs," or been thrown into "absolute nothingness" from which even light could not escape. They simply vanished abruptly, silently, and completely... as if they had never been released, never existed in this space.

Above the ruins, only Szayelaporro Granz's Loneliness figure hovered, and his voice, chilling to the bone and carrying an unquestionable sense of absolute superiority, echoed clearly in the ears of the shocked Renji and Chad:

"I've said it before, no matter how many times you try, no matter what tricks you try... all your futile struggles are meaningless before the absolute domain of my 'Fornicarás.' This is an insurmountable chasm in terms of the level of life and the realm of understanding."

Before he finished speaking, the space around Szayelaporro slightly distorted, and two enormous black shadows materialized and appeared out of thin air!

They were two enormous humanoid Arrancars, exceptionally tall and robust, far exceeding the size of Arrancars. They had no clear facial features; their faces resembled rough stone masks, and their bodies were covered by thick, spiked, pale white exoskeletons, radiating a heavy and savage Reiatsu.

Without the Roar or a declaration, the moment they appeared, these two enormous Arrancar acted like killing machines receiving a silent command. They suddenly bent their knees and stomped on the ground—the air beneath their feet even crackled—and with an astonishing speed completely disproportionate to their massive bodies, they shot out like two heavy cannonballs, one to the left and one to the right, towards Renji and Chad, who had just unleashed their ultimate attacks and were in a brief recovery state in mid-air!

"What?!" Renji's pupils shrank sharply. Before the Baboon King Zabimaru could fully withdraw his defense, the giant Arrancar targeting him was already rushing towards him with a fierce wind! A giant fist covered with thick bone armor, comparable to a millstone, with the power to shatter mountains, slammed straight at him without any fancy moves!

Chad was in a similar predicament. Another giant Arrancar had rushed in front of him, its huge bone claws outstretched, slashing down like a bird catcher, the claws sharp and blocking all his angles of evasion.

With their bodies suspended in mid-air and nowhere to gain leverage, their old strength exhausted and new strength yet to be generated, they had no time to effectively evade or block this sudden and swift attack!

Bang! Bang!

Two muffled, thunderous sounds, like the cracking of leather, rang out almost simultaneously.

Renji only had time to barely turn to the side, using part of the Baboon King Zabimaru bone to block in front of him, before being hit solidly by the terrifying force of the punch. Chad, on the other hand, was slammed into the chest by the huge bone claw.

An irresistible force struck them, and like baseballs being hit with full force, the two were sent flying at an even faster speed than when they were rising, becoming two afterimages as they slammed into the ruins below! Dust and debris exploded into the air.

Below their trajectory, Szayelaporro's ever-trembling Fornicarás's Wings, like a spider waiting for its prey to fall into its web, silently split off several supple and swift wingtips, accurately predicting their landing point, and suddenly sweeping upwards and wrapping around them!

Pfft!

Before the smoke and dust had even cleared, the two figures were tightly wrapped and entangled by the purplish-black wing membrane tentacles, like wrapping rice dumplings, forming two constantly wriggling and contracting purplish-black spheres that hovered several meters above the ground.

"Ugh--!"

"Drink--!"

Almost simultaneously, Renji's furious the Roar and Chad's muffled growl echoed from within the spheres. The next moment, blinding crimson Reiatsu and heavy deep blue Reiatsu erupted from within the two purplish-black spheres!

Hiss--!

The tough wing membrane was forcibly torn apart, Renji burst out from it with a self-destructive Kidō attack, while Chad, relying on the brute force of the Right Arm of the Giant, managed to break free from the inside and staggered back to the ground, his breathing noticeably heavier.

However, as soon as they regained their footing and before they could even catch their breath, they saw Szayelaporro hovering in the air, a bizarre, sinister smile on his face—a smile that was a mixture of smugness, mockery, and the satisfaction of a mad scientist.

At the base of the enormous butterfly wings on his shoulders, two of the previously unremarkable, decorative, purplish-black buds suddenly swelled, trembled, and then—

Pat. Pat.

Two tiny, palm-sized, yet exquisitely crafted and lifelike Dolls detached from the flower bud and wobbled as they fell downwards.

The Doll's appearance was exactly the same as that of Renji Abarai and Yasutora Sado, who had just escaped! Even their tattered Shihakushō, minor wounds, and tired expressions were perfectly replicated! However, the Doll's eyes were empty and lifeless, and its lips held a chilling, eerie smile, just like Szayelaporro's.

Szayelaporro extended his pale fingers and gently caught the two tiny falling Dolls, cradling them in his palm as if admiring the most perfect works of art. He raised his head, his gaze sweeping over Renji and Chad, whose expressions had drastically changed below, his voice filled with the pleasure of complete control and undisguised mockery:

"Look, even if you were prepared for my abilities and even 'knew' some of the basics... so what? Faced with absolute power and exquisite calculation, your pathetic resistance only makes my data collection process a little more interesting."

He gently shook the Doll in his hand, his smile growing increasingly sinister, "And now... the most perfect 'sample' is in my hands."