On the battlefield of Sui-Feng, Omaeda, Hachigen, and Baraggan.
Clap!
Hachigen clasped his palms together and shouted: "Roppo Fujin!"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!!!
Pillar-shaped barriers from six directions and trapped Baraggan, who had released his Resurrección, inside.
"No matter what kind of ability it is, even your [Aging], if you can't attack the opponent, it's all the same... nothing to fear," Hachigen said calmly.
"I see..."
Baraggan extended the bony fingers of his right hand to touch Hachigen's Kido barrier and said: "Do you think that Kido... is immune to 'aging'?"
Bang!
As soon as Baraggan finished speaking, the Kido barrier touched by his bony fingers was rapidly eroded and corrupted, then shattered with a bang.
"What?!" Hachigen was shocked.
Then Baraggan pointed his bony index finger at Hachigen and said: "Humans have life and death, so do birds and beasts, so do plants and trees..."
"And Shinigami are no exception. Everything that dies must face aging. Things created by humans die, and Kido created by Shinigami is the same. I don't know if Kido can exist for a thousand years..."
"But one thing is certain: Kido cannot exist forever. Of course, the word 'forever' itself... is a ridiculous word born from the fear of aging."
After explaining to Hachigen with an arrogant tone, he finally said: "Alright, you who are about to die, I won't say more. Just resign yourselves to death!"
Having said that, Baraggan was about to act to eliminate Hachigen, Sui-Feng, and the others.
"Respira!"
The purple-black mist full of aging power immediately swept towards Hachigen.
Just as the aging-filled purple-black mist was about to engulf Hachigen, he quickly used Kido again to defend.
"Ryubi no Jomon!"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several white, plank-like Kido forces combined to form a gate-shaped barrier in front of Hachigen.
Boom!
The purple-black mist full of aging power crashed into Hachigen's gate-shaped Kido barrier and began to corrode it at a visible speed.
Hachigen quickly chanted: "Gunso Hachi Sun, Dan o Taisuru Ri Nashi, Ao no Kaname, Shiro no Kaname, Kuro no Kaname, Aka no Kaname, Kaniai De Umi ni Shizumu..."
Baraggan said with interest: "Is that a later incantation? First use Kido by discarding the incantation, then add the incantation afterward to strengthen the Kido's power. A clever move. However... unfortunately, it's too late!"
Crack!
As Baraggan finished speaking, Hachigen's gate-shaped barrier, under the erosion of Baraggan's 'aging' power, shattered again with a bang.
But at the same time, Hachigen had already completed his incantation.
"Ryubi no Jomon!"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Unlike the [Ryubi no Jomon] used earlier by discarding the incantation, after adding the incantation this time, several gate-shaped barriers combined directly to form a gate-shaped barrier far taller, thicker, and more magnificent than before. Even Baraggan's 'aging' power could not completely erode and corrupt it temporarily.
"Hmph, this move is quite imposing!" Baraggan snorted coldly, then increased the output of his 'aging' power again, and the speed of erosion and corruption immediately accelerated again.
Seeing this, Hachigen quickly turned to look at Sui-Feng behind him and said: "Miss Sui-Feng! Please lend me your strength! I need... your Bankai's help!!"
"You know about my Bankai too? Urahara Kisuke told you, didn't he? That guy... as annoying as ever!" Sui-Feng said, her right hand covering the stump of her constantly aching left shoulder, breaking out in a cold sweat.
Sui-Feng's left arm had been eroded by Baraggan's aging power during the previous battle, so she had been forced to have Omaeda chop it off for her.
"Miss Sui-Feng, I know you harbor ill will towards us who are close to Urahara, but you should understand that now is not the time to worry about that!" Seeing Sui-Feng's reluctant expression, Hachigen couldn't help but quickly persuade her.
However, facing Hachigen's persuasion, Sui-Feng turned her head away and ignored him.
In fact, the reason Sui-Feng was unwilling to use her Bankai to help was not simply because Hachigen was close to Kisuke, whom she detested. The main reason was that her Bankai had a limit on the number of times it could be used.
Sui-Feng's Bankai could only be used once every three days. Before the Vizard arrived, she had already used her Bankai in the battle against Baraggan.
So, in theory, Sui-Feng could not use her Bankai again. Of course, if she was willing to pay a heavy price, she could force its use one more time.
But Sui-Feng, already seriously injured and having lost her left arm, didn't know what severe aftereffects she might suffer if she forced her Bankai again. So she was not very willing to use it.
After all, from Sui-Feng's perspective, Soul Society still had two generals, Yamamoto and Toshiro, guarding the rear. Victory was already assured.
If they really couldn't defeat Baraggan, they could just have Yamamoto or Toshiro step in. There was no need to force her Bankai and leave herself half-dead.
"Well... how about this, Miss Sui-Feng. If you use your Bankai to help me, I can agree to any one of your conditions," Hachigen said again.
"Agree to a condition or something, I don't need you to do any... wait! Did you say you can agree to any one of my conditions?" Sui-Feng was about to refuse Hachigen, but then her expression flickered. Thinking of something, she seemed willing to agree to Hachigen's proposal.
"Of course, provided that I am capable of doing it," Hachigen added.
"Don't worry. The condition I want to propose, you can definitely do." Although the stump of her left arm was constantly painful, thinking about her wish coming true made Sui-Feng unable to help but smile.
"Does that mean... Miss Sui-Feng agrees to use your Bankai to help me?" Hachigen asked.
"Ah, that's right," Sui-Feng nodded.
Although she could ask Yamamoto or Toshiro to personally step in if she couldn't defeat Baraggan, that would be somewhat show her incompetence, which was hard for the somewhat proud Sui-Feng to accept. So before, Sui-Feng had been hesitant about asking Yamamoto or Toshiro to step in.
But now, Hachigen seemed to have found a way to deal with Baraggan, and he also said he would agree to any one of her conditions. So Sui-Feng, who had been hesitating, immediately made up her mind and decided to agree to Hachigen's request.
"But Ushoda Hachigen, remember this. My condition is..."
…
On the other side of the tall, thick, and magnificent gate-shaped barrier.
"Why has it gone quiet..." Baraggan wondered.
Earlier, Hachigen had made such a big commotion, and after using his Kido barrier to temporarily block the erosion of his aging power, Baraggan had thought Hachigen would definitely have some follow-up moves. But after quite a while, there was no next move from Hachigen.
"How boring! You made such a big fuss earlier, but it turned out to be just a delay tactic. How disappointing!!" Baraggan couldn't help but feel somewhat annoyed.
The main reason Baraggan had been unable for a long time to completely break through Hachigen's Kido barrier was that he wasn't using his full strength. He wanted to see if Hachigen had any other follow-up methods that might interest him.
But after waiting a long time without seeing any movement from Hachigen, Baraggan grew impatient and prepared to strengthen his attack power to completely eliminate Hachigen's Kido barrier.