But in the thick fog, only a blurred golden flash swept past.
The acid struck empty ground, corroding it into deep pits that hissed and sizzled.
The fog grew thicker.
And it began to turn... damp.
The salty tang of seawater filled the air. At some point, a thin layer of water had spread across the stone paving beneath their feet.
The water was bone-chilling, carrying eerie fluctuations of reiatsu.
"Up, up there!" Ao snapped his head up.
Everyone looked up with him.
Through a gap in the drifting fog, a tall, slender figure stood silently atop the eaves.
Her brown skin gleamed healthily in the moonlight, her white Arrancar uniform spotless. Blood slowly dripped from the enormous, shark-gill-shaped sword in her hand.
The Third Espada, Tier Harribel.
She lowered her golden eyes, gazing coldly at the Kirigakure Ninja below as they braced for battle, as though looking at lambs that had strayed into a hunting ground.
"Those who trespass on the territory of Las Noches," her voice came through her mask, cold and clear as an icy spring, "die."
"Las Noches?!" Mei Terumi's pupils contracted sharply. "You're working for Uchiha Ryūha?!"
Though she had prepared herself for it, Mei Terumi was still surprised to learn that Uchiha Ryūha had staged the masked man's "retreat" himself.
Tier Harribel did not answer.
She simply raised her left hand, spread her fingers, and aimed at the Kirigakure shinobi below.
"Hirviendo."
Vwoom-!
High-pressure water erupted from her palm, not in a straight line, but in a spreading fan.
The water was terrifyingly hot. Wherever it passed, the fog instantly evaporated, and the stone paving burst apart from the heat.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
Several Kirigakure jonin formed hand seals simultaneously, joining forces to raise a thick wall of water.
But the instant