Battle Against the Espada (Twelve)

His tattered white robe had completely disappeared, replaced by a layer of pale white bone armor that clung to his body, gleaming with a cold metallic sheen. It covered his torso and most of his limbs, with a grotesque design and covered with sharp protrusions.

The most striking, and chilling, change was in his arm.

The arms, which were originally no different from those of a human, were now completely covered by a thicker, tougher, and seemingly forged white "Hierro," giving the skin an inhuman metallic texture.

But this was just the beginning—on his shoulder blades, above the shoulder joints, flesh and bone writhed and multiplied like living things, and amidst a teeth-grinding sound, two new arms grew out, also covered in pale Hierro and bulging with muscles!

Four arms! Each arm is slightly different in shape, but without exception, they are all full of pure power and the precision of a killing machine.

At this moment, each of the four arms held a massive scythe that exuded a chilling aura of death.

Four scythes, four arms, and the twisted, excited grin on Nnoitra's face, fueled by the Resurrección, with a single eye burning with pure destructive desire, together create the image of the "Santa Teresa," a killing demon god descended from another world.

"Haha!! Can you feel it? Nelliel!!" Nnoitra laughed maniacally, his four arms casually swinging four scythes, drawing chilling streaks of light in the air and emitting a whistling sound as if warming up, or perhaps showing off. "This is the real me! This is the power worthy of the name 'Espada'! Your outdated No. 3? Before my brand-new No. 5, you are nothing but a piece of Kuchiki waiting to be cut down!"

Before he finished speaking, the ground beneath his feet exploded! After Resurrección, his speed was several levels faster than before! His four arms no longer distinguished by primary or secondary arms, transforming into four intertwined death whirlwinds. The four scythes, from four completely different yet perfectly complementary angles, charged towards Nelliel with a frenzied momentum that tore and shredded everything! The density, ferocity, and strangeness of the attack far exceeded ten times that of when he wielded the scythes with both hands!

The sword flashed like a waterfall, its cold light like snow, instantly enveloping Nelliel's figure completely!

"Ha! Nelliel! Is this all you've got—hiding and dodging, barely managing to defend yourself?! Where's your 'Cero Doble'?! Where's your 'Mercy'?! Show it to me! Let me see what else you, the former 3rd Espada, can do besides absorb other people's attacks?!" Nnoitra roared with laughter as he launched a frenzied attack. His four scythes slashed, hacked, swept, and hooked, unleashing a relentless barrage of attacks like a never-ending metal storm, attempting to crush and tear Nelliel apart with sheer density and power!

Faced with this relentless, almost all-encompassing attack of the four-sword style, Nelliel's figure seemed to transform into a small boat in a storm.

Her movements remained agile, Zanpakuto in her hand danced even faster, transforming into an even denser curtain of emerald green light. The clanging sounds of the weapons clashing together were so numerous that they seemed to blend seamlessly. She no longer attempted to retaliate easily, seemingly focusing all her energy on neutralizing the deadly attacks coming from all directions.

Every parry and every dodge was incredibly dangerous, as if the sharp scythe would seize an opening at any moment.

In Nnoitra's eyes, this was a clear indication that his opponent was outmatched and completely overwhelmed. His smugness and arrogance grew even stronger, and his attacks became increasingly unrestrained. He wielded his four scythes with impenetrable force, wishing he could immediately chop the once high and mighty woman before him into mincemeat.

However, after another all-out attack, with four swords striking simultaneously from all four directions—up, down, left, and right—locking down Nelliel's dodging space, was once again neutralized by a series of incredibly precise small movements and blocks, Nnoitra's frenzied attack rhythm inevitably experienced a very slight pause—a pause caused by the continuous bursts of attacks—as she needed to breathe and adjust her center of gravity.

It was that brief moment of stagnation!

Nelliel, who had been on the defensive and seemed to be barely holding on, suddenly unleashed a light in her emerald green eyes that was even more dazzling and colder than jade!

"Nnoitra," her voice remained calm, even carrying a faint sigh, yet it clearly pierced through the metallic hiss, "After all this noise... it seems your skills are limited to this."

The moment the words were spoken, her Zanpakuto suddenly erupted with an unprecedented emerald green light! It didn't directly block the four scythes, but rather, with a mysterious trajectory, the blade vibrated at a high frequency, skillfully striking the weakest and most unstable point where the power of the four scythes converged, just like a serpent!

Clang--!

A loud bang, clearer and longer than any previous collision!

Nnoitra felt the force from the four scythes suddenly become chaotic, as if four torrents had crashed into a perfectly placed reef. Instead of converging into a stronger impact, they interfered with and clashed with each other! A strange shockwave traveled through the scythes, causing all four of his arms to go numb at the same time. His attack instantly collapsed, and the four scythes swung uncontrollably in all directions, leaving his defenses wide open!

Nelliel, seizing this golden opportunity, lunged forward like a cheetah poised for battle! She didn't swing her sword, for the momentum had waned and retraction would take time. She chose a more direct and swift approach—

Her long, powerful right leg transformed once again into a streak of emerald green, carrying a highly concentrated Reiatsu that seemed capable of shattering mountains. Like a cannonball, it swiftly and decisively struck the very center of Nnoitra's chest, completely exposed by her outstretched arms and covered in white bone armor! The speed, power, and timing of this kick were all at their perfect peak, a testament to her combat wisdom and rich experience!

Nnoitra's pupils contracted sharply. He hadn't expected that his opponent, under such a dense barrage of attacks, could still seize and exploit this fleeting opening to launch such a fierce counterattack! He tried to pull his arm back to block, but the numbness in his arm and the momentum of the scythe made him a beat too slow; he tried to dodge to the side, but his center of gravity was too heavy due to the previous all-out attack!

The fatal kick was about to land squarely on his chest, inflicting a severe blow—

A sudden change has occurred!

Just as Nelliel's feet were less than half a foot away from Nnoitra's chest, the skin and bone armor on Nnoitra's shoulder blades, which were originally covered with pale Hierro and had slightly retracted due to the deflection of the scythe, suddenly and violently writhed and bulged without warning!

Pfft! Pfft!

Two chilling, muffled thuds, as if flesh were being forcibly torn apart!

Two brand-new, ferocious arms, covered with the same pale white Hierro but with more twisted muscle lines, abnormally large finger joints, and sharp, hook-like fingertips, suddenly pierced through his rib area below his shoulder blades with incredible speed, like venomous snakes emerging from their holes!

One of the newly formed arms, like a precise mechanical clamp, with its five fingers spread wide, whistling through the air, grabbed Nelliel's foot, which was about to strike its target with deadly force! The power was astonishing; the steel claw-like fingers dug deep into her flesh, instantly halting all of her forward momentum!

Almost simultaneously, another newly formed arm, fingers together, its bones cracking with a series of popping sounds, hardened and lengthened instantly, its tip becoming incredibly sharp, like a spear forged from white bone and coated with deadly poison. With a chilling, bone-chilling killing intent and a sharp whistling sound, it pierced through everything with ruthless force, aiming directly at the exposed opening in Nelliel's abdomen, which was slightly tilted forward due to the kick!

Six arms! The true form of the Santa Teresa was revealed at this moment, its most insidious and deadly side exposed! The two extra arms were not decorations, but venomous fangs hidden in the eye of the storm, waiting for their chance to strike!

It all happened so fast, so unexpectedly! From Nelliel's counterattack to Nnoitra's two new arms "bursting" out from under her shoulder to seize and kill her, the whole process was nothing more than a flash of lightning!

Just as the sixth hand was about to touch Nelliel's clothing at the waist, the former 3rd Espada displayed terrifying combat instincts and body control honed through countless life-and-death battles.

She did not panic and try to break free of her gripped ankle—that would only be a waste of energy and create a better angle for Nnoitra's arm to stab her.

Instead, her right leg, whose ankle was being held, suddenly exerted force, no longer trying to push forward, but instead, like a serpent, following the force of Nnoitra's grip, her entire body, using this pulling force and her held ankle as a fulcrum, performed an extremely fast, illogical lateral twist in mid-air like a gymnast!

This movement not only instantly changed her body posture and vital positions, causing the deadly arm to narrowly miss its mark by grazing her waist, but also freed her left hand.

In the instant she twisted her body, Nelliel's free left hand shot out like lightning! It grabbed the wrist of her sixth arm, which was still in its early stages of development!

With five fingers like hooks, it precisely gripped the wrist joint covered in pale Hierro and bulging muscles!

"Come here!"

With a sharp shout, Nelliel left arm, combining it with the momentum of her twisting body to maximize her superhuman strength and exquisite technique of deflecting force. Instead of trying to force it, she used the residual force of Nnoitra's thrust to pull and guide it diagonally downwards to her side!

At the same time, her right leg, whose ankle was being held, reacted. She stopped trying to break free and suddenly relaxed her resistance. Then, her ankle twisted and retracted at an extremely tricky angle! Slippery as an eel, combined with the twisting of her entire body and Nnoitra's slightly distracted attention due to the grip on her left hand (her fifth arm), she narrowly escaped from the steel claw's grasp!

This series of movements—twisting to dodge the spear, seizing the wrist and pulling, and spinning the foot to escape—was completed almost simultaneously, so fast that only a few blurry afterimages and the faint sound of bones rubbing against each other remained in the air.

On Nnoitra's side, however, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse.

His fifth arm (the one that grabbed his ankle) was feeling the prey's sudden loss of control when his sixth arm's wrist was pulled by a subtle yet powerful force, involuntarily deviating from its original trajectory. This caused his entire upper body to be pulled towards Nelliel's side, making him stumble!

What's even more deadly is that he had just launched a full-force attack with his four-sword style, and then instantly "burst" out two new arms to launch a sneak attack. His body coordination and center of gravity were already in a delicate balance after a high-speed shift.

At this moment, both of his crucial new arms were simultaneously restrained. One arm missed its target and was grabbed, while the other's prey escaped. This sudden, opposite force of imbalance was like the last straw that broke the camel's back, instantly shattering the stability of his body's center of gravity!

"Huh?!" A flash of surprise and anger crossed Nnoitra's single eye, and his massive body tilted uncontrollably forward and to the side. He hurriedly tried to steady himself, adjust his center of gravity, and at the same time subconsciously tried to break free from the sixth arm that was holding his wrist by Nelliel, and to retract the fifth arm that was grasping at empty air, in order to regain his balance.

However, when top competitors clash, victory or defeat often hinges on a single, narrow margin!

Just as Nnoitra's movements faltered due to a loss of balance and a gap appeared in the transition between old and new forces, Nelliel's counterattack, like a long-awaited thunderbolt, crashed down!

Her right leg, which had just been pulled away, hadn't even fully touched the ground yet, but her left foot was already firmly planted on the ground, providing the perfect fulcrum for leverage. And her right hand—the one that had been tightly gripping the emerald green Zanpakuto —was already poised to strike!

Using the momentum from the twisting and pulling motion, the waist suddenly turned back like a strong bow, and the power of the whole body flowed like a river, instantly transferring to the right arm and pouring into the blade!

The emerald green blade gleamed blindingly bright at that moment! No more holding back, no more skillful concealment, only the purest, most direct, and most domineering—slash!

The blade sliced through the air with a piercing, ear-piercing hum! A perfectly condensed, emerald-green crescent-shaped slash, seemingly capable of cutting through light, descended diagonally from the upper left as Nelliel swung her arm down with all her might. Its trajectory perfectly covered the entire vital area of Nnoitra's upper body, from her left shoulder blade to her right ribcage, exposed by her forward lean!

Nnoitra had barely managed to regain his balance, and it was too late to block or dodge! The emerald green blade light magnified rapidly in his single eye, and the shadow of death instantly seeped into his limbs like icy water!

"You bastard—!"