Clang—!
The long, crisp ring made Unohana Retsu's pupils contract slightly. Seeing the gray glimmer blocking the tip of her blade, she swiftly pulled back.
"Trying to run?"
At that moment, Bogeku sneered. "My psychic power isn't some useless trash that can only defend." As his words fell, the fingers of his clasped hands flicked, his legs tightened, and a ferocious shockwave burst outward.
The gray glimmer struck Unohana Retsu, turning her pretty face pale. Her delicate body shot backward like a launched missile, slamming into the metal wall amid a dull hum. The sudden impact forced blood from her mouth, while tearing pain spread throughout her body.
Bogeku moved to pursue her, intending to kill this woman first. Every stroke of her blade was lethal, and one careless mistake could make him stumble into disaster.
But at that moment, Captain-Commander Yamamoto, who had been gathering spiritual pressure all this time, suddenly moved. Dark-red blade energy flared atop the Zanka no Tachi condensed to its limit in his hand. Though it merely hung in the air, it set the atmosphere itself ablaze.
"Zanka no Tachi: North—Heaven and Earth Reduced to Ash!"
With an aged, deep voice, he sharply raised his blade. Blade energy spanning the entire space shot toward Bogeku. Everything it touched was reduced to ash in an instant, and even Bogeku felt a sense of danger from this strike.
Abandoning his pursuit of Unohana Retsu, he turned to face Captain-Commander Yamamoto, his ten fingers clasping together as psychic power gathered.
Boom!
The dark-red blade energy that could cut through anything swept toward him, as though it would cleave Bogeku in two!
Rumble!
The protective barrier over the metal wall behind Bogeku caved inward beneath that slash, leaving behind a huge blade mark wreathed in flickering flames.
It seemed