Bankai, Minazuki

"Quit yapping. Watch the young master show off..."

The man inside the Church doorway had not even finished speaking.

Bai Zhu had already drawn his sword.

The sound of the blade leaving its sheath was not loud.

Yet Milluki felt as though something had scraped across his eardrums.

He stood beside the car with a speaker on his shoulder. He had wanted to make a sarcastic remark, but the words caught in his throat.

The sword Bai Zhu called a "fire poker" every day had finally been fully drawn.

There were no patterns.

No exaggerated light effects.

It even looked rather ordinary.

But the instant its tip left the sheath, the Black Crystal Patterns on the Church doors began to tremble.

It was not the cracking that came after an attack.

It was more like a living creature encountering its natural predator.

"Th... this is your ability?"

Milluki's throat went dry.

Bai Zhu turned his head and glanced at him.

"Please enjoy my true ability."

Milluki instinctively wanted to curse.

At a time like this, you were still putting on an act?

But as he watched the Black Crystal on the doors shrink segment by segment, he could not bring himself to curse.

In the end, he only managed to choke out one sentence.

"You can't even speak Chinese properly, so what kind of master are you pretending to be?"

Bai Zhu raised his chin.

"Enough nonsense. Get the speakers ready."

"Do you really take me for a stagehand?"

"Aren't you one?"

"I'm a fucking Zoldyck!"

"You're moonlighting now."

Milluki's chest heaved with anger, but his hand had already pressed the play button.

His body was still very honest.

Bai Zhu looked back toward the Church.

The footsteps converging from every direction grew denser and denser.

The black-armored Holy Knights regrouped. Gray-robed guards rushed out from the side alleys, while the collared believers walked toward the square one after another.

They chanted prayers.

Their voices were orderly, and irritating to hear.

The white-clad saintess had arrived as well.

She stood at the other end of the square, seven Black Crystal Needle Tubes hovering before her, without attacking immediately.

Bai Zhu raised his left hand and gripped the blade.

Milluki's eyes widened on the spot.

"What are you doing?!"

The blade sliced open Bai Zhu's palm.

Blood ran down the blade.

At first, it was just normal bleeding.

The next second, the blood became viscous, and the amount was wrong.

It was clearly only a single wound, yet it was as if an entire bucket of blood had been poured from his palm, dripping down the blade onto the stone steps.

Drip.

Drip.

The sound drowned out the prayers.

Bai Zhu lowered his head and looked.

The blood landed on the ground, forming a pool.

Then it began to spread outward.

The saintess seemed to sense some immense terror and involuntarily took a step back.

The movement was tiny, almost imperceptible.

But Milluki still saw it.

"She's scared?"

Bai Zhu tightened his grip on the blade, and more and more blood flowed out.

"She should be."

Milluki froze for a moment.

From inside the Church doors, the white-clad man's voice rang out again.

"Heretic, the power you carry does not belong to this world."

Bai Zhu looked up.

"What a coincidence. You lot don't look like local specialties either."

The man behind the doors fell silent.

"You will be reclaimed by Father."

Bai Zhu laughed.

"Your dad sure is busy. He has to make children and collect trash too."

Milluki nearly burst out laughing.

Number Nineteen, sitting in the car, had gone pale.

How did this man dare say that?

Bai Zhu lifted his sword.

Blood dripped from the tip, gathering into a pool of deep crimson on the stone steps.

He took a breath.

Then he shouted in an utterly exhilarated pronunciation.

"Bankai—"

"Minazuki."

Milluki pressed the play button almost in sync.

Deep, heavy music exploded from the massive speakers.

The sound waves kicked up the snow on the ground, and even the car windows shook.

Milluki had originally been ready to mock that ridiculous pronunciation.

But the next second, his entire body froze.

The blood beneath Bai Zhu's feet exploded.

It did not splatter.

It spread out as though it were alive.

The dark-red blood pool spread from the stone steps, crossed the square before the Church, surged into cracks in the streets, poured into the drains, and burrowed downward along the Black Crystal Circuit.

The instant the Black Crystal Formation lines beneath the Holy Knights' feet came into contact with the blood pool, white smoke rose from them.

"Sizzle, sizzle—"

The black-armored Holy Knights collectively retreated.

A few were too slow. Their leg armor was caught by the blood pool, and the Black Crystal shells began to soften.

"The Holy Marks have failed!"

"The formation lines have been contaminated!"

"Retreat! Retreat now!"

Bai Zhu stood in the middle of the blood pool, and the sword in his hand had changed as well.

The plain blade looked as though it had been wrapped in blood plasma, with a long red stream hanging from its tip.

Milluki stood there with the speakers on his shoulder, utterly stunned.

He had seen powerful people before.

The Zoldyck family never lacked monsters.

Whenever his grandfather Zeno acted, his enemies would be afraid, would collapse, would forget even how to resist.

But Milluki could not quite describe the thing before him.

Bai Zhu was not merely suppressing the scene.

It was as though he had moved an entire death scene to the Church entrance.

Milluki muttered.

"Grandpa... probably isn't this outrageous, right?"

The moment he said it, he immediately shook his head.

"No, no. I can't think that. If Grandpa finds out, I'm finished."

Bai Zhu heard him.

"Fatty, stop spacing out. Keep the music going."

Milluki immediately snapped back to himself.

"Worry about yourself! My sound engineer services are expensive!"

"It's fine. I won't dock your pay."

"You think you'll still be alive to settle the bill today?"

"If I don't survive, you brothers will be going down with me anyway. Don't worry, I'll settle it with you underground too."

"You really aren't human."

The blood pool continued pressing outward.

The Black Crystal Patterns on the Church doors fell off piece by piece.

At last, hurried footsteps came from inside.

More than a dozen Holy Knights rushed out. The moment they stepped into the blood pool, the Black Crystal Armor below their knees began to smoke.

Bai Zhu raised his sword and walked forward.

The first Holy Knight raised his shield.

Bai Zhu casually slashed.

The shield and its bearer were sent flying together, the Black Crystal shield surface cracking into several pieces in midair.

The second Holy Knight tried to thrust at him from the side.

Bai Zhu stepped on the spear shaft and struck the other man's helmet with the flat of his blade.

Thud.

The man fell.

"I said it already. Today, I'm mainly here to tear this place apart."

He raised his hand and pointed at the group of Holy Knights still standing.

"Don't block the way."

No one retreated.

They were bound by their collars and their faith alike. Even as the blood pool burned their armor, they charged forward.

Bai Zhu sighed.

"Fine. I respect your faith."

He raised his sword.

Dozens of blood threads suddenly rose from the blood pool, wrapping around the Holy Knights' legs and dragging them down one by one.

Milluki's scalp tingled as he watched.

"Your ultimate move can control an area too?"

"This is my first time using it."

"You're this skilled with it on your first try?"

"That's what geniuses are like."

"Stop grossing me out!"

The white-clad saintess finally suppressed the fear in her heart and moved.

The seven Black Crystal Needle Tubes formed a spear and shot straight toward Bai Zhu's chest.

Bai Zhu did not dodge.

He raised his sword and blocked.

The spear crashed against the blade, producing a piercing shriek.

The blood pool coiled around the spear shaft.

The Black Crystal Spear shuddered violently, its surface peeling away layer by layer.

The white-clad saintess retreated once again.

Bai Zhu looked at her.

"You were pretty quick at stabbing people earlier. Why are you being so polite now?"

The saintess did not reply.

She raised her hand, trying to recall the spear.

Bai Zhu flicked his wrist.

The blood blade came down.

Crack.

The spear snapped in half.

Milluki roared on the spot.

"Beautiful!"

After shouting, even he froze for a moment.

Bai Zhu turned his head.

"Were you cheering for me just now?"

"Shut up! I was upset about that spear!"

"Oh."

"Oh my ass!"

Bai Zhu did not pursue the saintess.

He looked up toward the inside of the Church.

Blood had seeped through the gaps beneath the doors, burrowing deeper along the Black Crystal Circuit underground.

He could sense that there was something below.

Something filthy.

Something heavy.

Something that was still sucking people in.

There were a little over eight minutes left on the countdown.

Bai Zhu did not waste any time.

"Milluki, charge in with me."

Milluki froze.

"What about Number Nineteen?"

"She'll be fine."

Only when Milluki looked back did he see that layers of bloodwater had already wrapped around the vehicle, making it impossible for those Church people to get close.

Seeing that, Milluki finally relaxed.

Happily carrying the speaker, he trotted after Bai Zhu.

Bai Zhu swung his blade, and the Church doors burst apart.

A row of children stood behind them.

All of them wore white robes, their faces ashen as they recited the same prayer.

Bai Zhu paused.

Milluki saw them too.

"Don't do anything reckless. They have Black Crystal Circuits on them. They might be connected to the ritual."

Bai Zhu lowered his blade.

"Then I'll use something gentler."

He raised a hand.

"Bakudō #4: Hainawa."

Spiritual-pressure ropes shot across the floor.

The children were tied up like dumplings and fell in clusters.

The prayers on the ground stopped.

But underground beneath the Church, the black light still flashed wildly.

Bai Zhu stepped over the threshold.

"Fatty, send Illumi a message."

"What should I say?"

"Hang in there. His Prince Charming is coming to save him."

Milluki gritted his teeth and pressed the communicator.

"Brother, hear that? That lunatic Bai Zhu came in."

There was no immediate reply through the earpiece.

Only static remained.

Milluki's expression changed.

"Brother?"

Outside the underground core area.

Illumi leaned against the wall, his right hand hanging at his side.

His sleeve had been sliced open, and there were three wounds on his arm.

The wounds were not deep.

The trouble was that a disgusting force was continuously eroding his Nen.

All the puppets he had arranged had already fallen.

The people under his control were not dead. Their joints and their connections to the Nen Needles had simply been severed, and they lay scattered across the corridor.

The white-clad holy son stood ten meters away.

More than a dozen Black Crystal Surgical Knives hovered around him.

Illumi had changed routes three times.

Ventilation ducts, medicine pipelines, freight elevator shafts.

Every route had been blocked.

His decoy misdirection had failed too.

His opponent could not be fooled.

Every attack went straight for his true body.

It felt terrible.

Illumi disliked useless actions.

But now, ninety percent of what he did was useless.

The holy son slowly approached.

"The Zoldyck assassination techniques are very refined."

Illumi raised his hand, firing three Nen Needles.

The surgical knives around the holy son spun, easily knocking them aside.

Clang, clang, clang.

"Unfortunately, you still rely on life force and Nen. That means you are no match for me."

Illumi did not respond.

He turned and rushed into the ward on the left.

The moment he stepped inside, the Black Crystal Patterns on the walls lit up.

A surgical knife cut at him from behind the doorframe.

Illumi twisted aside, and a piece of fabric was sliced from his shoulder.

The holy son's voice came from the corridor.

"What we study is stronger than Nen."

"After people die, Nen remains."

"Obsessions remain as well. And some things that should not exist here remain along with those obsessions."

"Even after the Life Circuit breaks, there is still a direction."

Illumi vaulted out the other side of the ward and landed in the equipment room.

The instant he landed, the Black Crystal beneath his feet lit up.

He immediately retreated.

The next moment, three surgical knives sprang from the floor and pierced through the afterimage he had left behind.

The holy son continued approaching.

"Black Crystal can capture direction."

"No matter how well you hide, as long as you are alive, you will be seen."

Illumi finally spoke.

"So you use pregnant women and children as circuits too."

The holy son stopped.

"They are materials, and they are containers."

Illumi glanced up at him.

"Your efficiency is poor."

The holy son tilted his head slightly.

"What?"

"You've researched this for so long, and you still need so many materials."

Illumi raised his hand and fired two more Nen Needles.

The holy son blocked them.

But this time, the Nen Needles exploded, and the fine needles hidden inside shot at the Black Crystal by his feet.

Crack.

A small piece of Black Crystal fractured.

Illumi turned and ran.

The holy son remained unhurried.

"Once Father awakens, you will make a fine specimen."

The core area suddenly trembled.

A huge crack opened at the center of the altar.

The children kneeling around the altar's outer ring all raised their heads, and their prayers became more orderly.

Illumi rushed to the corner, his steps pausing for an instant.

Ahead, Black Crystal rose from the ground and sealed the exit.

Behind him, the holy son slowly approached.

At the center of the altar, a stone coffin covered in Black Crystal Patterns rose up.

The holy son's tone finally changed.

There was a trace of excitement in it.

"Father, your rebirth is nearly complete."

The coffin lid slowly slid open.

A man sat up inside.

An ornate ceremonial robe draped over him, his skin split apart as Black Crystal grew from the gaps in his bones.

The moment that Nen pressure emerged, even Illumi found it hard to breathe.

Post-Mortem Nen.

The quantity was wrong.

So was the intensity.

An ordinary person's Post-Mortem Nen would condense around an obsession.

This thing seemed to have swallowed the remnants of many people before being forcibly stitched into a whole. And within it was an aura he both recognized and craved!

The Pope raised his head.

His hollow face turned toward Illumi.

Illumi immediately retreated.

The passage was sealed.

The vents were sealed.

Every escape route had been blocked.

The last two puppets he released charged toward the altar. After taking only three steps, they were cut into pieces by the surgical knives.

Illumi stopped beside the wall.

He began calculating.

Breaking through the holy son had a low probability.

Getting past the Pope had an even lower probability.

Saving Ella was nearly impossible.

Taking the intelligence away had a failure rate close to the maximum.

He raised a hand toward the documents in his clothes.

If he destroyed them, at least he would not let the other side recover them.

The holy son seemed to see through his movement.

"You can try."

The Pope slowly raised a hand.

Every Black Crystal Pattern underground lit up at once.

Illumi felt his body being pinned down.

It wasn't Nen pressure.

That thing was crushing the Life Circuit within him.

His fingers began to go numb.

Even his Nen had become sluggish.

His thoughts flashed to home.

His father.

His mother.

His grandfather.

And several troublesome younger brothers.

Milluki would probably cry.

Killua might laugh.

And... forget it. He most likely hated me intensely...