Clang!!
Sombravida's Sky-Splitting Greatsword collided with the claw of the charging Vasto Lorde. Sparks scattered across the white sand. The impact wave rippled outward, blowing aside nearby Adjuchas.
Without hesitation, Sombravida fired a pale-gold Cero past his opponent's shoulder—forcing the third Vasto Lorde, who had been preparing a flanking strike on Barragan, to break off and evade.
Using that opening, Sombravida disengaged and returned to Barragan's side.
Barragan had already stabilized his reiatsu. Respira spread in controlled arcs around him, forcing distance and preventing the surrounding Adjuchas from closing in recklessly.
"Who are you?!" roared the largest of the three Vasto Lordes.
He was grotesquely proportioned—massive torso, thick neck, disproportionately small head. His spiritual pressure, however, was undeniably Vasto Lorde-class.
Sombravida glanced at him.
"I told you. Your father. But forget it—I refuse to acknowledge something that ugly."
The leader's reiatsu flared violently.
Barragan spoke coldly, eyes fixed on the trio.
"Central Hueco Mundo scavengers. They caught the scent of my forces and assumed we were easy prey."
Sombravida frowned.
"We haven't even entered the inner territory and we've already encountered three Vasto Lordes?"
Barragan's voice lowered.
"The one on the right. He carries a fragment of my Law of Time."
Sombravida's eyes sharpened.
"What?"
"Faint. Incomplete. A derivative ability. He can rewind damage inflicted upon himself—counteracting external aging effects. But only on his own body. If it could extend outward, he would not have joined a pack."
Sombravida smiled thinly.
"So he can undo your decay on himself… but not on others."
"Correct."
"Then none of them leave."
Sombravida launched forward.
He intercepted the tank-type Vasto Lorde first.
Boom!
Blade met hardened forearm.
The impact cratered the sand beneath them.
The slender Vasto Lorde moved instantly—drawing a thin one-handed blade and aiming for Sombravida's blind side.
A colorless Cero detonated between them.
The slender one was forced back mid-advance.
"Nel!" Sombravida shouted downward.
"I understand!"
Nel plunged into the Adjuchas ranks below, her acceleration and absorption ability overwhelming the battlefield at that level. She did not interfere above.
Sombravida re-engaged.
Air Slash.
A compressed blade of reishi sliced across the tank Vasto Lorde's arm. Blood sprayed, but the wound was shallow—his hierro was dense.
Tank type indeed.
Sombravida vanished.
Spatial step.
He reappeared behind the slender Vasto Lorde and struck.
Clang!
Steel met steel.
The slender one reacted in time—but the collision forced him backward hundreds of meters.
Shadow Dance.
Sombravida pressed forward relentlessly. Spatial after-images disoriented the slender Vasto Lorde, and multiple shallow cuts began to accumulate across his torso.
"Kamra!" the slender one shouted to the leader.
Kamra roared and descended like a hammer.
The massive weapon in his hand crashed down.
Sombravida caught it mid-swing—but the impact drove him into the sand, detonating a shockwave that obscured the field.
Dust billowed.
Neither Vasto Lorde charged blindly.
They sensed something was off.
Within the dust—
Sombravida did not retreat upward.
He vanished downward.
Spatial slip beneath the sand.
Seven Adjuchas were cut down before they realized he had moved.
When the dust cleared, Sombravida stood calmly, biting into a fallen mask fragment.
His eyes locked onto the two Vasto Lordes.
"You weren't expecting that."
Rage erupted.
Two Ceros fired simultaneously—red and green.
Sombravida smiled.
He vanished.
Appearing behind them mid-release.
The Sky-Splitting Greatsword descended.
Thud!
Twin gashes tore across their backs.
Spatial energy invaded through the wounds.
Sombravida twisted his fingers.
Two miniature spatial turbulences detonated internally.
The slender Vasto Lorde coughed black blood.
The tank staggered.
Enraged, the slender one spat out a mouthful of dark mist.
It expanded instantly.
A black curtain swallowed Sombravida whole.
Silence.
The battlefield vanished.
Sombravida stood beneath a blue sky.
Skyscrapers.
Traffic.
Human voices.
His former world.
Sombravida's eyes narrowed.
He fired a Cero.
It passed through a building.
No impact.
Illusion.
Not full sensory domination—his reiatsu senses remained intact.
Only visual and partial spiritual overlay.
A Hollow-type hallucination ability—projecting memory constructs through reishi interference.
Not Kyōka Suigetsu.
Crude by comparison.
Sombravida drew a circle in the air.
A spatial aperture opened.
Bawabawa emerged.
"Bawa?"
"Can you see a city?" Sombravida asked.
The mudskipper looked around at the empty black void and shook its head.
Good.
The illusion affected Sombravida's perception layer.
Not physical space.
"Anti-Membrane. On me."
"Bawa!"
An orange beam enveloped Sombravida.
The Anti-Membrane created a separate spatial layer.
The illusion fractured instantly.
The city dissolved.
Sombravida returned to the battlefield mid-air.
Below, the slender Vasto Lorde stared upward in disbelief.
"Impossible!"
"Your illusion projects memory constructs through reishi interference," Sombravida said calmly. "Interesting. But I've faced worse."
He dismissed Bawabawa.
Then—
Pale gold gathered in his palm.
Blood dripped from a cut across his hand.
It merged into the Cero.
The sphere darkened.
Compressed.
Spatial distortion rippled around it.
King-Flash amplification.
Sombravida slashed forward.
A dimensional cleave opened simultaneously.
Dual attack.
The two Vasto Lordes separated instantly to avoid annihilation.
Sombravida's eyes sharpened.
"Exactly."
He pursued the slender one.
Illusion users were priority threats.
Kamra could be dealt with afterward.
Sombravida accelerated.
Spatial distortion trailed behind him.
The slender Vasto Lorde realized too late—
Sombravida had no intention of letting him cast that mist again.
And this time—
There would be no escape.