That Instant

Kensei Muguruma's spiritual pressure suddenly plummeted, drawing looks of surprise from the Soul Reapers scattered across different battlefields within the Wandenreich.

No matter what, Kensei Muguruma had been an established captain from a century ago and had even mastered Hollowification. He was the very model of a captain.

Moreover, after all the captains had completed Spirit Body Layering and fought within the Seireitei last time, five days of consolidation had brought varying degrees of improvement to nearly every captain.

After all, Spirit Body Layering's most significant effect on the captains was raising the ceiling of what Aizen Sōsuke had once called the individual limits of different Soul Reapers.

For that very reason, Kensei Muguruma had been the first among all the captains to use Bankai and Hollowification, unleashing overwhelming spiritual pressure as he prepared to crush his opponent in one stroke and wash away the humiliation of his previous defeat.

Quite a few Soul Reapers had even subconsciously assumed that Kensei Muguruma might become the first captain to defeat his opponent and boost morale!

Yet, to everyone's utter surprise, Kensei Muguruma's spiritual pressure had weakened in an instant!

At that moment, within a massive crater that seemed to have been formed by countless raging storms...

Kensei Muguruma, maintaining his Bankai, Iron Fist: Gale Force, and wearing a rectangular Hollow mask with six holes, remained frozen with both fists swung down beneath him.

A hand seemingly made of steel had pierced straight through the center of Kensei Muguruma's chest. Blood sprayed continuously from the wound in his chest, splattering over X-Axis, I, whom Kensei Muguruma had pinned beneath him.

Covered in fist marks and traces of the storm's ravaging, X-Axis looked increasingly disheveled.

Yet X-Axis's eyes remained calm and disdainful. He even subtly flexed the hand embedded in Kensei Muguruma's