Spirit-Scattering Gloves

"Not good!"

In the village, the moment the Soul Reapers rushed out of the forest, no longer protected by the concealment barrier, their spiritual pressure was quickly sensed by the Quincies in the village.

"How is that possible? We just killed the Hollows. How could the Soul Reapers have arrived so quickly?"

The moment he saw the Soul Reapers, Kurosaki Takuya's expression turned grave.

"The Soul Reapers are here!"

As the Soul Reapers drew closer, more and more Quincies discovered their traces.

To the Quincies, Soul Reapers, like Hollows, were mortal enemies they could never coexist with.

In fact, the Quincies' hatred for Soul Reapers surpassed even their hatred for Hollows.

It was hatred left behind by centuries of slaughter between Quincies and Soul Reapers.

At once, blue Spirit Bows appeared in the left hands of the Quincies, who unleashed attacks at the approaching Soul Reapers.

Unfortunately, how could the Reishi Arrows fired by Quincies who struggled even to kill lesser Hollows possibly threaten elite Soul Reapers?

Some flashed away with Shunpo, while others drew their Zanpakuto and shattered the Reishi Arrows flying toward them. In an instant, the Quincies' attacks had been completely dispersed.

"Something's wrong. The Soul Reapers attacking this time are far too strong!"

Watching the Soul Reapers effortlessly neutralize the attacks from his side, Kurosaki Takuya sensed that something was wrong.

"Unless we were exposed long ago. Our actions just now only let the Soul Reapers pinpoint our exact location ahead of time."

As that thought crossed his mind, Kurosaki Takuya raised the Silver Ridge Arc Sparrow in his hand again, sending a dense rain of arrows toward the incoming Soul Reapers.

Kurosaki Takuya pushed the Silver Ridge Arc Sparrow to its limit. One thousand two hundred Reishi Arrows per second nearly flooded more than half the sky in the Soul Reapers' vision.

If these Soul Reapers were struck by this move, at least half of them would suffer losses.

Unfortunately, Kurosaki Takuya's Light Rain did not truly strike a single Soul Reaper.

That was because two figures instantly appeared at the very front of all the Soul Reapers, facing the rain of arrows that filled the sky.

Captain of the Gotei 13's Second Division, Shihoin Yoruichi, and Captain of the Thirteenth Division, Jūshirō Ukitake!

"Bakudo #81—Dankū!"

A pale yellow, translucent curtain of light instantly appeared before Yoruichi and Jūshirō Ukitake.

"Boom boom boom boom boom..."

Countless arrows struck the light curtain in rapid succession, producing a barrage of sharp explosions and filling the space before Dankū with thick mist from exploding reishi.

Other than adding more smoke and dust from the exploding Reishi Arrows before Dankū, Kurosaki Takuya's attack caused no harm to the Soul Reapers.

After all, as a high-level defensive kido, Dankū was a powerful defensive technique said to perfectly block any Hado below #90.

Even though Jūshirō Ukitake had omitted the incantation and could only display one-third of Dankū's true power, it could still at least defend against Hado around #60.

Although the Light Rain fired by Kurosaki Takuya reached one thousand two hundred arrows per second, each arrow was only about as destructive as Byakurai, Hado #4. They could not possibly break through Dankū's defense.

"Captains of the Gotei 13, and there are two of them?"

When Shihoin Yoruichi and Jūshirō Ukitake appeared before Kurosaki Takuya, he knew that he, and even more of the Quincies, were most likely doomed today.

The captains of the Gotei 13 were the thirteen strongest people standing at the very peak of the Seireitei.

Every one of them possessed strength far beyond what others could imagine.

No matter how confident Kurosaki Takuya was in himself, he never believed he could be a match for a Gotei 13 captain.

Much less when there were now two captains standing before him.

Moreover, after ceasing his attack, he discovered that the Soul Reapers behind Dankū were advancing from both sides in an arc, clearly intending to completely surround the village where they were gathered.

They clearly intended to wipe them all out!

"Katagiri Shuta, Ishida Junichi, I'll hold off these Soul Reapers. Take everyone and leave now!"

"Lord Kurosaki!"

"Stop wasting time. Hurry and take everyone away..."

"If you can't escape, remember to explain to the children what they can see and what they cannot see..."

Hearing Kurosaki Takuya's words, Katagiri Shuta and Ishida Junichi's expressions immediately turned ugly.

Had they reached a dead end?

Even Lord Kurosaki had begun to despair?

Ishida Junichi lowered his head and gave a derisive laugh.

"Heh heh..."

"Since when did the survival of us Quincies have to rest upon the kindness of Soul Reapers?"

Kurosaki Takuya frowned. "Junichi!"

"Don't worry, Lord Kurosaki. I'll make the arrangements."

"But forgive me, Lord Kurosaki. This time, I'd rather die fighting here than live on while placing my hopes in Soul Reapers..."

As he spoke, Ishida Junichi placed his right hand on one of the spikes of the Spirit-Scattering Gloves on his left hand and snapped it off—

Crack!

"Boom!"

The Spirit-Scattering Gloves were the strongest Quincy equipment developed by the Quincies over the past several centuries.

Under normal circumstances, the Spirit-Scattering Gloves absorbed reishi from the air and stored it within the gloves.

When a Quincy broke off one of the Spirit-Scattering Gloves' spikes, the reishi stored within would be completely released, strengthening the Quincy's control over the surrounding reishi and allowing them, for a short time, to simulate some of the abilities of the Quincy's highest form, Vollständig.

However, after using the Spirit-Scattering Gloves, a Quincy would overburden their control of reishi, severely damaging their Chikaku and ultimately causing them to lose their powers.

At that moment, vast amounts of reishi swirled around Ishida Junichi. At the same time, the Spirit Bow in his hand transformed from a reishi construct into a nearly tangible white bow—an Arc Sparrow!

After using the Spirit-Scattering Gloves, Ishida Junichi's strength now surpassed even Kurosaki Takuya's.

Drawing the bow, Ishida Takuya fired his arrow at Shihoin Yoruichi and Jūshirō Ukitake, who stood ahead in white haori.

"Kill!"

"Everyone, run!"

Though his back was turned to the village, with Ailin's current abilities, the sounds of fighting and slaughter within the village still reached his ears.

The Quincies had declined in the end.

Even though Ishida Junichi, Katagiri Shuta, and even Kurosaki Takuya had used the Spirit-Scattering Gloves, raising their strength to a level comparable to captains, it did not change their fate in the slightest.

Ishida Junichi was killed by Shihoin Yoruichi, Katagiri Shuta was killed by Urahara Kisuke, and Kurosaki Takuya likewise fell beneath Jūshirō Ukitake's blade.

With the three strongest Quincies dead, the remaining Quincies had no ability to resist the attacks of the elite Soul Reapers.