Flames roared as smoke billowed, dyeing the forest in towering firelight.
Ikkaku Madarame widened his eyes, staring in shock at the dust clouds rising in the distance, his face full of disbelief.
Yumichika Ayasegawa beside him looked no better, his delicate features twisted with shock.
The battle had ended so quickly that before either of them could react, Renji Abarai had already unleashed a mutually destructive move, blasting both man and Hollow with a single Shakkahō.
Boom!
A figure flew out of the smoke. Ikkaku Madarame reacted swiftly, spreading his arms and catching him with perfect precision.
Having taken a Shakkahō head-on, Renji Abarai was covered in soot. His Shinigami Uniform had been burned through in several places, and his skin was mottled black and red, looking particularly gruesome.
"H-Heh, I won."
Under the strange gazes of Ikkaku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa, Renji Abarai opened his mouth and a puff of black smoke rose from within. He shook off the hands supporting him and staggered to his feet.
He stared unblinkingly at the dispersing smoke, where an even more charred giant came into view.
Metastacia's spiritual pressure had collapsed, and its presence was faint. It looked to be on the verge of death.
It had thought that once it erased a Shinigami's Zanpakuto, it would be invincible. Coupled with its powerful ability to fuse with Shinigami spirit bodies, it believed it could fight even a Captain.
Yet it had run into a complete fool.
No Zanpakuto? Then fight at close range—Hakuda combined with instantaneous Kido.
The range of his attack had even included himself. He had not cared in the slightest whether they died together.
Wasn't that a little too reckless?
With that thought, Metastacia died completely. Its spiritual pressure crumbled away, and it immediately turned into countless spirit particles