Fierce Battle

Gillian had clearly lost his temper. He swung his hand down just as before, but at more than twice the speed.

Even so, to Hongjiang, he was still far too slow. Hongjiang casually grabbed the Hollow in front of him and tossed it beneath the oncoming giant hand, making it take the hit for him. His feet barely moved; he simply flashed several steps away, beside a Hollow that had been watching the show.

The enraged Gillian didn't feel the slightest remorse for accidentally killing one of his own kind. At that moment, all he could see was Hongjiang, darting around like a flea. Wherever Hongjiang ran, Gillian's palm came crashing down a moment later.

The ordinary Hollows present were the ones who suffered. They wanted to run from the mindless Gillian, but Hongjiang wasn't about to let that happen.

Some were tossed beneath his hand like the first one, while others had their legs swept out from under them. All they could do was wait in despair for Gillian's giant palm to fall and take their lives.

Hongjiang thwarted every kind of escape attempt. Dust rose across the battlefield, and cries of pain rang out without end. Each gust of rushing wind marked the disappearance of another Hollow, a sight that even made Kamisawa feel a little sorry for them.

With Hongjiang leading him around, Gillian quickly wiped out all the ordinary Hollows on the field.

With the cannon fodder gone, Hongjiang decided there was no need to keep dodging. He sprinted along Gillian's arm toward that comical face. The giant wasn't actually stupid; he raised his arm, trying to fling Hongjiang off.

Hongjiang didn't panic. He bent his knees and used the upward momentum, then pushed off and shot forward like a rocket. If nothing went wrong, his fist would meet Gillian's brow in the next instant.

At that speed, Gillian had no time to guard himself. He was definitely going to take the hit! But just as Hongjiang was feeling confident, the giant did something that shocked him.

Gillian's smooth, pale forehead first shifted upward, then folded back. A bottomless, pitch-black abyss appeared out of nowhere. It was Gillian's mouth, opened wide like a box waiting to swallow him.

Kamisawa was still searching for Hongjiang. He looked up and saw Gillian closing his mouth. Had Hongjiang been eaten? The thought that sprang to mind startled him.

"Impossible. How could someone with such beautiful Flash Step get eaten?" Kamisawa muttered, searching in every direction for Hongjiang. But it was a fruitless effort, because Hongjiang really was inside Gillian's mouth.

Being inside a Hollow's mouth wasn't very comfortable. Even if it had been, Hongjiang had no intention of staying there. He'd ended up inside because he couldn't stop in time, not because he wanted to imitate a monkey and call out to his sister-in-law!

Everything around him was pitch-black. Though he released his spiritual power, his own light couldn't reach beyond him, so he couldn't make out his surroundings at all.

But Hongjiang knew the exit was behind him. He turned and felt his way forward for a couple of steps before reaching a wall. It was almost certainly one of Gillian's teeth.

He clenched his fists and gathered his strength, then threw two quick punches in succession. They were nearly full-force blows. The first broke one of Gillian's front teeth; the second sent it flying out of sight. Hongjiang held back the third punch, activated Flash Step, and hurried out.

Kamisawa had searched everywhere and was starting to despair when Hongjiang suddenly appeared beside him. At the same time, Gillian clutched his mouth and cried out, twisting from side to side in obvious pain.

"Where did you go?" Kamisawa stared blankly at him, then pointed at Gillian in the distance and asked, "And what happened to him?"

"I accidentally ended up in his mouth." Hongjiang let out a long breath, then turned and grinned. "On my way out, I knocked one of his teeth loose."

Kamisawa was at a loss for words. That had been a close call, so how did Hongjiang make it sound as though he'd just gone out for a stroll? Was that the confidence that came with strength?

But Kamisawa was overthinking it. Hongjiang was smiling on the outside, but inside, he was panicking like crazy.

Old Man Yama had never taught him what to do if he got inside a Hollow's stomach. Luckily, Gillian seemed to have a normal biological structure. If he'd had a little universe inside him, Hongjiang would've been done for.

But Gillian had no idea what an incredible thing he'd just done. His most important possession—the mask—had been damaged, and now he was completely berserk. A red orb began to form in front of his mouth, which was missing a front tooth, and grew larger and larger.

Cero was a technique used by Hollows of the Menos Grande class. It involved compressing spiritual power to an extreme degree and then releasing it all at once. Though Gillian hadn't lowered his head, his eyes were fixed on Hongjiang, and Hongjiang knew exactly who he was aiming at.

He understood how the technique worked. It was fast, powerful, and destructive. But it also had obvious drawbacks: the attack was easy to read, and it took a long time to prepare. The lower the Menos Grande's rank, the longer the preparation took!

He'd already been stupid enough to charge right into Gillian's mouth. If he let him fire off a Cero now, Hongjiang felt he might as well kill himself!

"If you like keeping your mouth shut, I'll make sure you can keep it shut!"

Hongjiang sprang into action, climbing up Gillian's body. He was going to teach the idiot a lesson he'd never forget! But Hongjiang wasn't the only one moving. From somewhere far away, a blue arrow suddenly shot toward Gillian's cheek.

Next, the poor giant's jaw was forced shut, making all his teeth crash together and shatter. The blue arrow struck right after, twisting his head a full ninety degrees. The red Cero discharged involuntarily, hitting nothing but air.

"Did those guys catch up too?"

As if to prove his point, a shower of blue arrows, just like the one before, came flying in. Hongjiang first punched Gillian's already-dazed head around. Then he jumped onto the giant's long nose and pushed backward, guiding every last one of the countless blue arrows into his mouth.

Boom! Boom! Boom!...

Explosions erupted from Gillian's mouth one after another. The whites of his eyes showed, and his body slowly toppled backward. His once-pristine white mask was now battered and cracked, crumbling away bit by bit. The mask was the very core of a Hollow; in this condition, Gillian was as dead as could be.

Hongjiang, who had already returned to Kamisawa's side, couldn't help touching his own mouth at the sight. Just watching it made him feel the pain!

"You guys went way too hard!" Hongjiang turned to the left, baring his teeth as he spoke. "Couldn't you have been a little gentler?"

"Don't go blaming us. We were all aiming for his head. What can I say about how he ended up like this? It's just what you wanted, isn't it?"

As Hongjiang watched, more than a dozen people dressed in white appeared where there had been no one a moment ago. The young man leading them wore a smile. He was the one who had just spoken.