"Crush me underfoot?"
Beneath the blue-black helmet, two clusters of spirit fire flickered in the air.
Grimmjow let out an exceptionally low sneer from his throat, his voice hoarse and gravelly.
The next instant, the black-armored figure standing in midair vanished completely.
There was no howl of Shunpo tearing through the air, not even a ripple from the friction of Reiatsu.
That pitch-black figure was abruptly erased, like a drop of water merging into a boundless ocean.
Gerard's blazing eyes abruptly contracted to pinpoints.
Beneath his enormous helmet, all he could see was a stretch of empty, ruined halls.
"Where did you run off to, little flea!"
Gerard roared, instinctively sweeping his enormous broadsword out to the side.
The raging blast of air sheared away half the corridor on his right, but the space his blade cut through was empty.
Suddenly, golden light burst from a seam in the armor at the left side of Gerard's nape.
Riiip!
With the dull sound of flesh being sliced apart, five smooth furrows several feet deep opened across his skin.
Blue-black claws forcibly tore away great chunks of muscle formed from sacred Reishi, scattering them through the sky.
"Urgh!"
Gerard grunted in pain and swung his enormous palm back toward his nape.
With a thunderous crash, his thick palm dispersed a vast rush of air, yet failed to touch even the edge of a black shadow.
"Too slow. As slow as a lump of motionless sludge."
Unrestrained mockery drifted unpredictably, ringing out from every direction around Gerard at once.
Immediately afterward, another succession of shredded flesh burst from beneath Gerard's left ribs.
Blue-black claw flashes traced dozens of intersecting fine lines through the air, like lightning prowling through a storm.
His sturdy sacred heavy armor shattered and flew apart beneath the slicing claws,