Flash Cry, One Step Away

Inside the Seireitei, in the training grounds of the Squad 2, a battle of speed is about to begin.

Soi Fon and Robert Agutron of the Saint Letters N each used their speed advantage to find the other's weakness. At present, Soi Fon, who has activated Flash Cry, seems to have the upper hand, as Robert's body is already covered with Hōmonka.

"Two-Hit Kill. In other words, as long as I dodge your second attack, I will be safe."

Robert is an old man who looks remarkably like the KFC Colonel. He fights with a pistol in one hand and a white box in his left. At this moment, he has activated his Vollständig ability, God's Step.

Reishi coalesced into green wings behind him, greatly enhancing his movement speed.

Even so, Soi Fon, who already knew the information, used the terrain advantage to continuously set traps, leaving Hōmonka on his body.

If Soi Fon were to strike the same spot on Hōmonka again, she could activate the Zanpakuto Suzumebachi's Two-Hit Kill ability and kill Robert instantly.

While it's true that an opponent with far Soi Fon spiritual pressure could directly use their spiritual pressure to avoid Two-Hit Kill, it's clear that Robert doesn't yet possess that ability.

Listening to Robert's arrogant analysis of his abilities, Soi Fon's face showed a hint of disdain. The other party had already used his Vollständig and had no more trump cards left, so what right did he have to speak to her like that?

"Then give it a try!"

Soi Fon disappeared once again, and when she reappeared, she was already behind Robert. Suzumebachi aimed at the huge Hōmonka on Robert's back.

Just as it was about to strike Robert's back, a cross-shaped seal blocked Soi Fon's attack, with blood-like patterns flowing across its surface.

Blut Vene?

Soi Fon immediately distanced herself, observing Robert's sudden change. Beside Robert, six identical cross-shaped seals floated, each bearing the same Reishi particle pattern.

Soi Fon glanced at her fingers; the sensation she had just felt was very similar to a hard shield, and extremely similar to the Blut Vene she had experienced on Bazz-B.

Soi Fon then realized that she had fought Robert several times, and Robert had never used the Blut Vene for defense. A veteran Quincy like Robert would never have the ability to use Blut Armor.

At this moment, Soi Fon also noticed that Robert's box was open, and all the seals were taken out of his box.

"You haven't seen my defensive techniques yet, have you? This is the Blut Vene Defense that I've spent over a hundred years developing. It can work in conjunction with my Saint Letters abilities to protect my vitals in an extremely short time!"

As he spoke, the stamps spun rapidly around Robert's body.

"You have imprinted the Hōmonka on my body, which means that my Blut Vene only needs to defend against the locations of these Hōmonka."

Robert raised his pistol and fired a shot in Soi Fon's direction, while simultaneously spreading his left hand and saying, "These Hōmonka of yours are nothing more than tools to restrict your attacks!"

Unlike other impetuous young Quincy, Robert had genuinely and seriously trained the captains conjured by Gremmy, so he was equally familiar with Soi Fon's abilities.

His plan was to have Soi Fon leave Hōmonka on his body. As long as Soi Fon's attack targets the Hōmonka on his body, it means that he only needs to defend those specific parts of his body.

"Arrogant!" Soi Fon unleashed her Flash Cry again, detonating her spiritual pressure and launching a rapid charge towards Robert. "When did I say that only Two-Hit Kill could kill?"

Soi Fon aimed directly at Robert's throat, a spot where Robert Soi Fon one strike even without using Two-Hit Kill.

Soi Fon was confident that the speed she unleashed would catch Robert off guard, but just then, the rain began to fall— Yhwach's the Auswählen raindrops.

With the same spiritual pressure shock, Robert sent Soi Fon flying. His hands and feet were now equipped with green Vollständig armor, making him faster and stronger.

"Hahaha!" Robert laughed wildly as he welcomed the Holy Rain. His biggest worry was that Yhwach would abandon a portion of the Quincy, leaving only a few of the strongest elite units. Now it seemed that he was among those elite units.

"Your Majesty! This old minister will serve you for eternity!"

Robert was overjoyed to be bathed in the Holy Rain, which proved that Yhwach recognized him.

The enhanced Vollständig proved that Robert's speed had improved once again. Before the laughter had even subsided, he was already behind Soi Fon, his pistol aimed at Soi Fon's back.

Unlike Bleach, Quincy don't have Blut Vene for defense; this attack is the chance to take down Soi Fon.

The wind, a fierce wind, swirled around Robert's arm. Just as he was about to fire his Spirit Bow and Arrows, the wind shifted his wrist, causing Robert to miss his intended target!

Before Robert could react, a gust of wind enveloped Soi Fon, as if draping her in an invisible Soi Fon. Soi Fon then turned and kicked Robert.

Robert's defensive seal proved very useful, blocking Soi Fon's attack just before it arrived, thus protecting Robert from serious injury despite being kicked away by Soi Fon.

"What is this?" Robert asked gravely, raising his gun to fire at Soi Fon.

Soi Fon didn't even dodge, and met Robert's Spirit Bow and Arrows head-on with her fists. With two punches, all of Robert's arrows were scattered.

"Is the spiritual pressure wrapped around her like the wind? Is that Flash Cry's new ability?" Robert's eyes were very mature, and he immediately saw the composition of the power that Soi Fon was displaying.

Soi Fon, of course, wouldn't explain the power within her to Robert. It was Infinite Flash Cry, a necessary process to transform the spiritual pressure of Flash Cry into a property.

Unfortunately, Soi Fon's talent in Flash Cry is far inferior to Yoruichi's. In the past year or so, she has only managed to train Flash Cry to the point of entangling spiritual pressure, and is far from being able to truly transform it into an attribute and reach the stage of Wind God Form.

However, it was enough to deal with Robert, whose strength had suddenly increased. The next moment, Soi Fon appeared in front of Robert again. Unlike when she used Suzumebachi to hit Hōmonka, this time Soi Fon kept a certain distance before punching Robert.

The powerful wind pressure creates terrifying destructive force; each of Soi Fon's attacks leaves a huge crater in the ground.

Meanwhile, Robert was constantly dodging while unleashing Spirit Bow and Arrows. The two of them kept flashing around the Squad 2's training ground, and their attacks practically plowed up the entire Squad 2.

As he dodged, Robert gradually realized that he seemed to have slowed down—no, not that he had slowed down, but that Soi Fon had sped up.

In this rapid battle, Soi Fon's Flash Cry ability is growing rapidly. Given some time to adapt, Soi Fon might actually be able to master the Fuujin Sengoku form.

Robert, with his extensive combat experience, knew he couldn't continue fighting like this. If he did, he would surely be defeated by Soi Fon. He had to unleash even greater power to defeat Soi Fon's power evolution.

Evolve? Then let him evolve too!

The six cross-shaped seals surrounding his body combined to form a shield the size of an arm in front of him, withstanding Soi Fon Fon's attack while Robert shouted, "Evolve! Evolve for me!"

The Pernida nerves, which had been dormant within Robert's body, quickly emerged and wrapped around Robert, paving the way for his evolution.

Circular thrusters appeared on Robert's back and heels, and the gun in his hand also changed, replacing the original small pistol with a thicker barrel, which in a sense could be considered a cannon.

The price was that Robert's body was now completely straight. After his body was fully covered by Pernida's nerves, it was no longer as agile as it used to be. Pernida's nerves could have made his body evolve in sync, but Robert refused the next step of evolution.

Robert knew that his body could only evolve to this extent; if it continued, he would first lose his sanity.

As a veteran in the Quincy Legion, Robert knew all too well that Yhwach didn't truly consider them human. He had to consider his own safety and couldn't entrust his body entirely to Pernida's nerves.

The moment she saw Robert change, Soi Fon was already behind him, her hands forming a hurricane-force punch that swiftly struck Robert's back.

Robert, as if he had a spinning disc under his feet, unleashed a burst of Reishi flames from one heel, and using the other heel as a pivot, instantly turned and aimed the gun at Soi Fon's attack.

The patterns of the Blut spread across the weapon. Another advantage of separating the Blut Vene from the body is that you can enjoy the defense of the Blut Vene while using the power of the Blut Vene to enhance your attack.

A massive beam of Reishi containing Blut patterns instantly pierced through Soi Fon's fist pressure and struck Soi Fon's body at the same time.

In that critical moment, Soi Fon used the power of the infinite Flash Cry to shift her body position, but even so, she still had to pay the price of losing an arm.

Soi Fon's right arm was grazed by Robert's powerful Quincy, the wound so deep that bone was visible. For the time being, Soi Fon's right arm is essentially useless.

"It's over, Bleach!"

Robert aimed his gun at Soi Fon. His Spirit Bow and Arrows could graz Soi Fon Soi Fon once, and then hit her again. Soi Fon's Flash Cry evolution had been forcibly interrupted by him. Without completing its evolution, Flash Cry was far slower than Robert after its evolution.

In Robert's view, the battle was over.