"Hmph!"
The man snorted. The Spirit Bow in his hand gave a slight tremor. He didn't even draw the bowstring, yet a dense swarm of Spirit Particle Arrows shot toward Natsuki.
Natsuki used Shunpo, preparing to dodge.
As soon as he used Shunpo, the Quincy took the initiative and closed the distance between them with Hirenkyaku, appearing beside Natsuki. At the same time, Natsuki felt the Reishi beneath his feet fall into disarray. His Shunpo was forcibly interrupted, and his vanishing figure reappeared. The Spirit Particle Arrows reached him at once, about to run him through.
Natsuki frowned.
The powerful Reiatsu within him erupted in an instant. As it surged forth, an invisible force swept outward, instinctively driving everything nearby away. At the same time, Natsuki swung the Zanpakuto in his hand.
A tremendous Sword Pressure appeared.
The Spirit Particle Arrows were swept into it and all annihilated. In the end, they dissolved into a vast wave of Reishi that spread in every direction, seemingly on the verge of becoming a Reishi Storm.
However, with someone skilled at manipulating Reishi right there, the Reishi Storm ultimately failed to form.
The scattered Reishi was drawn toward Natsuki by the nearby Quincy, transforming into another, even larger Spirit Particle Arrow.
Whoosh!
In an instant, the Spirit Particle Arrow descended from above, enveloping Natsuki.
Just as it was about to strike him, the world around them abruptly turned crimson.
Countless crimson butterflies fluttered through the air.
A faint Red Mist appeared, lending the place a hint of bloodlust.
"Hmm?"
The middle-aged Quincy with a ponytail frowned. He sensed danger closing in and instinctively used Hirenkyaku to dodge. But the next moment, he suddenly realized that the Reishi he controlled beneath his feet had fallen into disarray.
It was just like how they used the Quincy's power to interfere with Shinigami's Shunpo.
Shinigami's Shunpo relied on the Shinigami's Reiatsu interacting with the Reishi around them, creating a powerful burst of force that propelled them forward.
Hirenkyaku was purer. Unlike Shinigami, Quincies didn't possess high concentrations of spiritual power within their bodies. They could only manipulate the Reishi around them, adjusting the flow beneath their feet to achieve high-speed movement.
Normally, only Quincies could freely manipulate the Reishi around them. A Quincy's Hirenkyaku couldn't be disrupted unless they encountered another Quincy.
Yet now, it was being severely affected.
"Shinigami, what exactly did you do?"
The middle-aged Quincy looked ahead.
With their powerful ability to control Reishi, Quincies also possessed exceptionally keen Spiritual Perception. Through his Spiritual Perception, he could tell that the Shinigami hadn't died. On the contrary, the Spirit Particle Arrows he had formed, along with the Reishi around them, were all converging on the Shinigami and being absorbed by him.
Natsuki's figure emerged from the Red Mist. His appearance hadn't changed at all, but the blade in his hand had turned a vivid red, as if blood might drip from it at any moment.
"Thanks for the gift!"
A strange smile curled Natsuki's lips as he spoke to the Quincy before him.
"As far as I know, Quincies can manipulate Reishi. Reishi is your weapon, so I've always wondered: without Reishi, what would you use to fight?"
As Natsuki spoke,
he stamped a foot against the ground and appeared in front of the Quincy in a flash. He swung his crimson Zanpakuto, slashing at him.
When he heard Natsuki's words, the Quincy had already tried to draw in the Reishi. But in this strange environment, he seemed to have lost all awareness of the Reishi around him. No—he could still sense it, but he couldn't control it.
The Quincy's heart tightened.
Besides using their own Reiatsu to fight, Shinigami had another weapon that the Quincies couldn't interfere with.
Their Zanpakuto.
Since the war began, he had killed many Shinigami and seen plenty of their Zanpakuto.
There was no doubt that the strange changes in their surroundings, along with his inability to control the Reishi there, were connected to the other man's Zanpakuto.
When Natsuki's Zanpakuto came at him, all he could do was rely on his body's instincts to dodge.
Though years of fighting in the Human World had honed his instincts, how could he possibly evade the attack when his physical abilities were inferior to a Shinigami's?
Pfft!
Blood sprayed, but the man was a rare Pure-Blood Quincy and didn't die right away. Instead, he darted off to one side.
"At this point, even if you dodged one strike, what good would it do?"
Natsuki's tone was indifferent. He decided to deal the Quincy a fatal blow.
"Shinigami, even if I'm going to die, I'll take you down with me."
As he spoke, the Quincy took a bundle he carried with him and removed a uniquely shaped glove. When Natsuki's Zanpakuto came swinging toward him, he hastily pulled the glove onto his hand.
The Reishi that Natsuki's released Zanpakuto had wrested from the Quincy's control fell into disarray in an instant. Then, the Quincy forcibly drew it in, making it surge into his body before spreading outward again.
The Quincy, who had already fallen, got back to his feet.
The Reishi formed a wall of light, forcibly blocking Natsuki's slash.
Then it transformed into countless Spirit Particle Arrows and shot toward Natsuki.
The middle-aged man controlling it all looked to be in tremendous pain. Strings made of Reishi appeared across his body, and with their aid, he turned himself into a puppet. Even with grievous injuries, he could keep fighting by force. This technique, known as Ransotengai, was a last-ditch method the Quincies used to fight. It had originally been developed to let aged Quincies whose bodies could no longer move fight by force, but it could also be used to make a desperate stand when the body suffered severe injuries.
Of course, the main reason he could briefly break through the restrictions imposed by Natsuki's Zanpakuto and forcibly control the Reishi around him—which had already been affected by Natsuki's Reiatsu—was the glove in his hand.
The Sanrei Glove!
With this glove, a Quincy could briefly reach their final form. At that point, all the power within their body would erupt and merge with the Reishi around them, allowing them to forcibly control all Reishi.
But since the glove dispersed their power, the Quincy would lose all their strength after using it and be reduced to a cripple.
Even though the middle-aged man was a Pure-Blood Quincy, with far greater Reishi-manipulation abilities than an ordinary Quincy, he had no choice but to use the glove after realizing he couldn't control the Reishi around him. It would let him push his power further and make a desperate stand.
As it turned out, he had made the right gamble.
After advancing his power, he forcibly took control of the Reishi affected by the other man's Zanpakuto and regained the ability to fight.
As long as he could fight, he firmly believed he could kill this Shinigami.
Even if he died too.
But when Shinigami were already so powerful, trading one life for another wasn't a bad deal.
Before you continue