Battle Against the Espada (11)
Clang--!
It wasn't the overwhelming dominance or the scene of one side being blasted away that was expected.
The moment the blade clashed with the scythe, a deep and resounding boom erupted! A violent shockwave of Reiatsu spread out in a ring, flattening and sinking the sand around them by several inches! Sparks flew like fireworks at the point of impact!
Nnoitra's forward momentum came to an abrupt halt. He slightly opened his one eye, a hint of surprise flashing across it. He could sense that what was coming from the seemingly slender and elegant Zanpakuto- on, but a peculiar power that was extremely resilient, dense, and seemed capable of dissolving any impact. His immense strength was like a clay ox entering the sea, cleverly guided and dispersed.
As for Nellie, her figure only swayed slightly, but she was as steady as a rock. Her emerald green eyes calmly stared at the ferocious face of Nnoitra, who was very close at hand, through the intertwined blades.
The battle instantly intensified!
Nnoitra roared, his arm muscles bulging, the massive scythe in his hands seemingly losing its weight, transforming into a storm of death! Chopping, slashing, sweeping, slicing... a variety of ferocious and fierce attacks poured out like a torrential downpour, each strike carrying a shrill whistling sound that tore through the air and terrifying power capable of splitting mountains and shattering rocks. His fighting style was expansive and powerful, full of a sense of power, which, combined with his massive body and eerie Reiatsu, created a despairing suppressive force.
However, Nelliel like a kingfisher dancing in a storm. Her movements were incredibly agile, and the Zanpakuto in her hand transformed into streaks of emerald light. She didn't directly confront Nnoitra, but rather parried, deflected, and neutralized the force with exquisite angles and just the right amount of force. She seemed to be able to predict the trajectory and power of Nnoitra's every attack, always managing to deflect the most dangerous attacks at the last second with minimal cost. The sounds of sword and scythe clashing were continuous, but no longer the initial loud bang; instead, they transformed into a series of rapid and crisp clanging sounds, as if playing a strangely rhythmic death symphony.
The two figures crisscrossed, separated, and collided at high speed in the Desert, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake as the sand was plowed by the violent Reiatsu and the aftershocks of their weapons.
Unable to break through after a prolonged assault, Nnoitra grew increasingly impatient. In the instant that Nelliel dodged a powerful downward slash, his scythe embedding itself deeply into the sand, his movements inevitably exhibited a minute, extremely slight, sluggish delay—a result of the excessive force exerted—as he retracted his weapon.
This is a tiny flaw that is difficult to completely avoid in battle; ordinary opponents might not even notice it, let alone seize upon it.
But Nelliel is no ordinary opponent.
In that split second, a glint flashed in her emerald eyes! Instead of attacking Nnoitra's slightly forward-leaning body caused by the exertion of his strength, she nimbly spun around, closing in as if weightless. Her long, powerful right leg shot out like a whip, carrying a solid emerald-green Reiatsu, and struck Nnoitra's chest, which was slightly open due to the exertion of his arms, with perfect precision right in the center!
Bang--!
A dull thud, like a heavy hammer striking leather.
Nnoitra's massive body jolted violently, a look of astonishment and pain flashing across his face. He felt an extremely concentrated and penetrating force slam into his chest, not only causing his blood to surge but also completely disrupting his momentum to pull the scythe embedded in the sand! The enormous impact propelled his feet off the ground, like a heavy sandbag being thrown, flying backward for more than ten meters before crashing heavily onto the sand, sliding backward a distance, and kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Cough cough..." Nnoitra coughed twice, somewhat disheveled, supporting himself with one hand. A shoe print was clearly imprinted on his white robe, and it throbbed slightly. He suddenly sprang to his feet, his one eye fixed on Nelliel, who was still standing not far away, holding her knife and breathing steadily. The violence and madness in his eyes were almost overflowing.
"Damn it... I underestimated you..." he muttered under his breath, then a more cruel and twisted smile spread across his face.
"Warm-up complete... Let's do something more fun, Lady Nelliel ~"
Before he could finish speaking, Nnoitra suddenly opened his mouth, and an exceptionally agile long tongue shot out like a venomous snake! Heart-pounding yellow Reiatsu points gathered and compressed wildly at the tip of his tongue, emitting a crackling sound like electricity, causing the surrounding air to distort slightly!
"Try this— Cero!"
It wasn't fired from her palm or mouth, but from the tip of her tongue! A beam of yellow energy, far more condensed, faster, and with a more unpredictable trajectory than a regular Cero, shot towards Nelliel's face like a viper's hiss, silent yet lightning-fast! The suddenness and tricky angle of this attack far surpassed that of a conventional attack!
However, Nelliel no surprise at the insidious and vicious tongue flash. She didn't even make a large dodging movement; she simply raised her free left hand slightly, fingers spread, palm facing forward, gently meeting the oncoming yellow Cero.
The next moment, a scene unfolded that caused Nnoitra's pupils to shrink sharply and made Ichigo Kurosaki and Orihime Inoue, who were watching from afar, gasp in shock—
The yellow Cero, powerful enough to easily pierce Hierro, seemed to have struck an invisible and soft wall when it was still half a foot away from Nelliel's palm. Its speed decreased sharply, and it finally came to a complete stop, like a yellow crystal frozen in the air, quietly hovering in front of her palm, its light flickering, but unable to advance any further!
Nelliel calmly gazed into the emerald green eyes at the blobs of Cero energy she had forcibly "grasped" by her Reiatsu, as if examining an interesting toy. Then, she made an even more bizarre move.
She slightly parted her beautifully shaped cherry lips.
Then, take a gentle inhale.
That condensed yellow Cero energy, like fireflies returning to their nests, transformed into slender streams of light, which she calmly inhaled into her mouth!
The entire process was seamless and effortless, as if she had absorbed not a deadly energy attack, but a breath of sweet air. Her throat moved slightly, and the violent Cero energy vanished completely from her body.
Nnoitra's sinister smile froze instantly, and for the first time, a clear look of shock and disbelief appeared in his single eye.
But Nelliel's movements did not stop. She closed her eyes slightly, seemingly undergoing some unimaginable, high-speed energy conversion and harmonization within her body. The next second, she opened her eyes again, her emerald green light shining brightly!
She stared at the dumbfounded Nnoitra ahead, her lips slightly agape.
Here you go.
A beam of energy, completely different from before, shot out from her mouth!
It was no longer a pure yellow, nor the emerald green of Nelliel's own Reiatsu, but a strange, perfectly interwoven, spiraling beam of mixed energy! It was thicker than Nnoitra's tongue flash, yet no slower, and the Reiatsu it contained had become more complex and unstable, as if two completely different forces had been forcibly blended together, producing some kind of qualitative change, radiating a heart-palpitating wave of destruction!
This is one of Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck's signature abilities— Cero Doble! She absorbs, decomposes, and converts the enemy's Cero energy into part of her own Reiatsu, then combines it with her own Reiatsu to form a more powerful hybrid Cero is returned to the opponent!
"What?!" Nnoitra exclaimed in shock. He hadn't expected that Nelliel, having just regained her true form and whose Reiatsu seemed to be at its peak, could unleash this attack so easily and so quickly! The speed and range of the combined Cero left him no time to make a perfect dodge!
In his haste, he could only lean back sharply, simultaneously holding the massive scythe horizontally in front of him in an attempt to block.
Boom--!
A mixed Cero of yellow and pink slammed solidly into Nnoitra's scythe and the half of his body that he couldn't completely dodge! An explosion far more violent than any previous collision suddenly erupted! The blinding two-colored light engulfed Nnoitra's figure, and the violent energy shock blasted a huge crater tens of meters in diameter into the surrounding sand. The Heat airwaves, carrying sand and gravel, swept in all directions, forcing Ichigo Kurosaki and Orihime Inoue, who were far away, to raise their arms to shield themselves.
The smoke and dust from the explosion slowly dissipated.
A figure staggered out from the edge of the deep pit.
It was Nnoitra Gilga.
His white, Espada robe was now tattered, torn into strips by the intense heat and energy of the explosion, barely clinging to his body and revealing his strong physique covered in Hierro. Even that supposedly incredibly defensive Hierro now bore numerous charred marks, fine cracks, and pits eroded by the energy. A trickle of blue blood clung to the corner of his mouth, and his single eye was narrowed slightly by pain and rage. The contempt and mockery in his gaze had vanished, replaced by a chilling killing intent and a hint of suppressed apprehension.
"Pah!" He spat a mouthful of bloody saliva to the side, his hoarse voice becoming even lower and more unpleasant due to his injury, but the madness within it remained undiminished.
"Oh dear... what an unpleasant 'reunion gift,' Nelliel." He stuck out his tongue, licked the blood from the corner of his mouth, and stared intently at the still composed Nelliel with his one eye, slowly saying, "I was so careless that I forgot about your disgusting unique ability... 'Cero Doble.' After all these years, your move is still as repulsive as ever."
He moved his somewhat numb arms, gripped the giant scythe tightly, and his tattered clothes and wounds did not make him look disheveled. Instead, he looked more like a ferocious beast that had been provoked and was licking its wounds.
"But... that's all." Nnoitra's voice suddenly turned cold, and the chilling, sticky Reiatsu around him began to boil with unprecedented intensity, faintly carrying an unsettling crimson hue. "Enough with the warm-up tricks. Now, it's time for you, the washed-up 3rd Espada, to witness the true power of the 5th Espada standing before you— Nnoitra Gilga!"
"Pray, Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck... Pray that your outdated mercy and weakness will earn you a slightly more dignified death under my blade!" Nnoitra's voice, a mixture of violence, madness, and a certain morbid excitement, echoed clearly in the air above the sand that had not yet fully calmed down after the explosion, like metal scraping against bones.
The moment he finished speaking, he held nothing back and struck the pose that signified the arrival of the Espada's true power—pointing the massive scythe in his hand at Nelliel!
"Pray, Santa Teresa!!"
The somber and ritualistic words of liberation were like a spell to open the gates of Hell.
Boom--!
A white light, far more intense and purer than any previous burst of Reiatsu, erupted from Nnoitra's body like a volcanic eruption! It wasn't the blue of Cero, nor the cold hue of his own Reiatsu, but the purest, most intense white Reiatsu storm, symbolizing the essence of Arrancar Resurrección! The blinding white light instantly engulfed his massive body, forming a Big White sphere of light with a diameter exceeding twenty meters. Countless streams of Reishi on the surface of the sphere surged the Roar like electric snakes, radiating a terrifying pressure that made even the soul tremble!
The white Reiatsu storm spun and expanded violently, as if some extremely terrifying existence was being conceived within it. The sand was torn apart and pulverized by the pure energy impact, then swept into the storm. Ichigo Kurosaki and Orihime Inoue, who were in the distance, felt their breath catch in their throats and had to retreat again, using their Reiatsu to resist the overwhelming pressure coming at them.
Just as the white Reiatsu storm reached its limit, seemingly about to explode out of control at any moment—
Sizzle--!
A piercing, shrill sound ripped through the air, like cloth being instantly torn apart by the sharpest blade!
From within the wildly spinning white sphere of light, a more ferocious and enormous black scythe blade, its edge gleaming with a chilling light, burst forth like the fangs of Soul Reaper, piercing the outer wall of the sphere and then slashing fiercely from the inside out!
Like a hot knife through butter, the seemingly raging white Reiatsu storm was actually cleaved in two and dispersed by this fierce and unparalleled strike!
The white light receded and dissipated as quickly as the tide.
The one standing in the same spot is no longer the Nnoitra Gilga of before.
Resurrección complete -- Santa Teresa!
His basic physical outline seems to have not changed drastically; he is still tall and imposing, but the feeling he gives off is completely different.
The charred marks and cracks in the Hierro left by Nelliel's hybrid Cero had vanished without a trace, and all his injuries were healed the moment Resurrección, restoring him to an unprecedented peak condition.