Three-Digit Arrancar (2)

Liu Ziyun looked up at her, his face showing no sign of tension or fear. He crossed his arms, tilted his head, and said in an almost casual tone, "Little sister, you're standing too high. I can't hear you very well—why don't you come down and we can talk?"

Tiruti Sandavichi raised an eyebrow slightly, a hint of displeasure flashing in her sharp eyes. She clearly hadn't expected that Soul Reaper would react this way when facing her—not with fear, not with tension, not with fighting spirit, but with this almost mocking, nonchalant attitude.

"It seems you have no idea what your situation is," a chill ran down her spine.

Before she finished speaking, her figure had already disappeared from the top of the Stone Pillar.

Sonído —a high-speed movement technique unique to Arrancars, its speed comparable to the Soul Reaper's Shunpo. Tiruti Sanderwich's figure streaked across the darkness like a bolt of lightning, instantly appearing beside Liu Ziyun.

She raised her hand, her five fingers pressed together like knives, ready to give this arrogant Soul Reaper a taste of his own medicine.

However--

The moment her body touched Liu Ziyun, she suddenly lost control.

An immense, suffocating Reiatsu, like an invisible mountain, pressed down on her from all directions, forcing her to her knees. Her knees struck the stone floor with a dull thud, and the stone cracked under the weight, the cracks spreading outwards.

Her body trembled—not from fear, but from the overwhelming Reiatsu, so powerful that her body instinctively submitted. Her muscles spasmed, her bones groaned, her breathing became labored, and her heartbeat became erratic. She desperately tried to stand up, to resist, but the Reiatsu was like an invisible giant hand, pressing down firmly on her shoulders, rendering her immobile.

She was filled with horror.

How could this be? How could this man—this seemingly unremarkable Soul Reaper —possess such powerful Reiatsu? This oppressive feeling, this overwhelming pressure that made it difficult to even breathe, she had only ever felt from one other person—

Sōsuke Aizen.

Liu Ziyun casually glanced sideways at the Arrancar had suddenly knelt beside him. His expression remained calm, as if this was all within his expectations. He didn't even take his hands out of his sleeves; he simply stood there, looking down at her.

"Look," he said, a hint of teasing in his voice, "It's you who can't see the situation you're in, isn't it?"

Tiruti Sandavichi gritted her teeth, desperately trying to lift her head to see the man's face. Her neck cracked under the immense Reiatsu pressure, every muscle protesting, but she stubbornly raised her head, bit by bit.

"Who... who are you?" Her voice trembled, but she tried to remain calm. "With such powerful Reiatsu... it's impossible for you to be unknown..."

Liu Ziyun looked at her, a slight smile playing on his lips, "Me? Liu Ziyun, the Fifth Seat of the Fourth Division of the Medical Support Unit in the Gotei 13 of Soul Society."

Tiruti Sandavichi's eyes widened suddenly, her sharp eyes filled with disbelief.

"Fifth Seat?" Her voice held a hint of anger, and a touch of humiliation at being mocked. "Stop talking nonsense! With your Reiatsu, there's no way you could only be the Fifth Seat! We have all the information on your Gotei 13 —with your strength, you're definitely above the captain level!"

What she said wasn't without merit. In the intelligence Aizen had gathered, every member of the Gotei 13 was meticulously recorded—captains, Lieutenant, Third Seat, Fourth Seat, Fifth Seat... Each person's abilities, characteristics, and fighting style were carefully analyzed, categorized, and archived.

But Liu Ziyun was not among those intelligence reports.

It wasn't because there were no records, but because—nobody noticed him. The Fifth Seat of the Fourth Division, a logistics personnel in a medical support unit, a "non-combatant" who never participated in frontline fighting—who would pay attention to someone like that?

Looking at Tiruti Sandavichi's face, flushed with anger and humiliation, Liu Ziyun's tone remained calm. "Oh, then you should know... I'm not the captain of the Gotei 13, right? And you only pay attention to the captains and Lieutenant, you don't care about me, the Fifth Seat, so naturally you don't know I exist."

He paused, tilted his head, and his expression seemed to say, "Isn't this obvious?": "So, it's not that your intelligence is inaccurate, but that your intelligence gathering scope is too narrow. You only focus on those in the limelight, while ignoring those hiding behind the scenes... This is your biggest mistake."

Tiruti Sandervich fell silent. She knew Liu Ziyun was right— Aizen's attention was mainly focused on captains and Lieutenant, and he hadn't paid much attention to those in lower ranks. This man before her had taken advantage of this, becoming a hidden, unrecorded "variable."

Liu Ziyun lowered his head, looking at Tiruti Sandervich who was still kneeling on the ground, his tone becoming more serious. "Tiruti Sandervich... the Arrancar number 105, one of the Espada before she used the Hōgyoku to create Arrancars."

Tiruti Sandavichi's pupils contracted slightly. This man even knew her number and origins?

"You are no match for me." Liu Ziyun's voice was calm and direct, without any hint of boasting or belittling, simply stating a fact. "You should conserve your strength to deal with the upcoming Exequias."

Exequias?

A sense of unease welled up in Tirudy Sandavichi's heart. She knew, of course, what the Exequias was—it was an assassination unit within Hueco Mundo responsible for "dealing with" losers and traitors, controlled by the mad scientist Szayelaporro Granz.

They specifically hunt down Arrancar who are injured in battle, weakened, or deemed "worthless," bringing them back to their labs to become specimens on their lab tables.

"After all, there's a perverted scientist over there," Liu Ziyun's voice carried a barely perceptible hint of disgust, "He wants to use you as experimental subjects. He won't pass up such a good opportunity to collect experimental materials."

After saying that, Liu Ziyun ignored Tiruti Sandavichi, turned around, and continued walking deeper into the passage. His steps remained leisurely and unhurried, as if everything that had just happened was nothing more than a trivial interlude.

Tiruti Sandavichi knelt on the spot, watching his retreating figure. She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, to call him back, to question him—

But an even stronger Reiatsu suddenly pressed down on her, like an invisible giant hand gripping her throat, rendering her unable to utter a single word.

Her eyes widened suddenly, a fear she had never felt before welling up inside her. This Reiatsu was stronger, purer, and more suffocating than before—it was as if if she uttered just one more word, that Reiatsu would crush her into dust like an ant.

She understood—this man had never been serious from the start. He was just "playing," using a little Reiatsu to suppress her, make her realize the gap between them, and then continue on his path. If she foolishly chased after him, what awaited her was a true, merciless crushing defeat.

Tiruti Sandavichi shut her mouth, kneeling there silently, watching Liu Ziyun's figure disappear into the darkness of the passage.

It took a long time for the Reiatsu weighing on her to gradually dissipate.

Her body suddenly relaxed, and she almost collapsed to the ground. She gasped for breath, sweat dripping from her forehead and soaking the stone slab beneath her. Her hands were braced against the ground, her fingers white from the effort, her nails digging into the cracks in the stone slab.

She stood up shakily, her legs still weak, barely able to stand. She steadied herself by holding onto the stone wall beside her, then looked up in the direction Liu Ziyun left.

In those sharp eyes, fear and awe were intertwined.

"This person... is so strong." Her voice was so soft it was almost inaudible, as if she were talking to herself, or perhaps confiding in someone who didn't exist. "From him, I sensed a power as strong as Aizen's..."

She paused, seemingly processing this unbelievable fact. "Are all Soul Reapers... this strong?"

No, that's not it. She rejected the question in her mind. She had seen other Soul Reapers —those captains, those Lieutenant. They were indeed strong, but that kind of strength could be measured by data, understood, and surpassed.

But Liu Ziyun different. His strength was unfathomable, immeasurable, and so great that it prevented people from even having the thought of resistance.