Thud.
Whoosh.
Yammy fell from high in the sky in an utterly wretched state. His Zanpakutō was stabbed into the ground in front of him, a very obvious crack running across its blade. It looked as though it was about to snap in two.
Yammy's body trembled constantly. His hand was still struggling to crawl toward his Zanpakutō. He did not want to fail here. He could still fight.
"Let's stop here for now. If you keep struggling, I'll get a headache."
Yammy struggled to raise his head. What he saw was Tsunayoshi's face, half-covered by a metal mask. He could no longer make out Tsunayoshi's expression, but he imagined it would not be anything pleasant.
A hint of red flushed Yammy's cheeks once more. He absolutely refused to admit that he was nothing more than a loser. Driven by rage, he wanted to release his Zanpakutō again.
But just as Yammy's hand was about to touch his blade, a fragment of stone completely smashed that trembling hope. The stone struck the back of his hand, leaving him without even the strength to crawl another inch.
He had lost.
No matter how unwilling he was, Yammy had no choice but to accept that fact. He could see the crack in his Zanpakutō clearly. There was only one possible consequence of forcibly releasing that blade now: he would completely transform into a rampaging Hollow.
He would lose his reason. Lose his thoughts.
How would that be any different from those Gillians?
Perhaps Yammy was afraid too. Afraid of the death of his mind. No matter how furious he was inside, he no longer summoned even the slightest strength to touch that fragile Zanpakutō. He simply waited quietly for Tsunayoshi's judgment.
Rain fell.
The Omega Scissors shattered into countless stone raindrops that descended toward Yammy. Before long, Yammy was buried beneath those stones filled with the power of Mountain Flames.
Tsunayoshi recreated the mountain peak he had previously leaned against, using the stones formed from the crumbling mountain itself. This time, the mountain did not appear behind him. Instead, it pressed heavily down on Yammy.
Yammy was even more pitiful than the monkey trapped beneath the Five-Finger Mountain. Only his head was exposed. His body and arms were completely pinned beneath the newly formed mountain.
The instant the mountain took shape, blue veins flashed across it.
It was the power of Blut again. After arranging the Mountain Flames in the manner of Blut Vene, ordinary Arrancar could not possibly rescue Yammy from beneath the mountain.
Unless an Espada-level Arrancar bombarded the mountain repeatedly, Yammy would have no choice but to remain obediently suppressed there until Tsunayoshi finished his business.
"Stay there and relax. I have no intention of killing you," Tsunayoshi said, crouching in front of Yammy.
He gave Yammy no explanation as to why and walked straight toward the central palace.
Watching Tsunayoshi's back, Yammy felt somewhat complicated. He was definitely angry, but within that anger was also a trace of confusion.
Did the loser of a battle not have to die?
That seemed somewhat inconsistent with his worldview as a Hollow.
As Tsunayoshi left, a small dog wearing a mask fragment darted out from a side hall. It was very fast and soon arrived beside Yammy, whining softly.
Kukkapūro.
This was Yammy's Fracción. On its back was the brand of Arrancar Number 35. Its combat strength was extremely weak, but it had always stayed by Yammy's side, following him through life and death.
Seeing his Fracción arrive, Yammy was about to scold it and drive it away. Then he thought of how Kukkapūro had just run past Tsunayoshi.
Could it be that this Tsunayoshi truly had no intention of killing him?
At the very least, the other party was not someone who delighted in slaughter. Arrancar who loved killing were extremely common in Las Noches. If Yammy had not protected Kukkapūro with his title as one of the Espada, Kukkapūro would have been casually erased by someone long ago.
Forget it.
He would just wait.
Yammy gave up the thought of resisting. In any case, he was not alone. It was only waiting for a while. As a Hollow by nature, the thing he feared least was waiting.
Tsunayoshi had not walked far before his steps came to a halt. Kisuke Urahara and Sora Inoue were walking out of the palace together, chatting and laughing. Sora Inoue even waved happily at Tsunayoshi.
"No, Brother Inoue, are you not even going to pretend anymore?" Tsunayoshi said with a laugh.
After all, Sora Inoue could still be considered an undercover agent. On someone else's territory, should he not at least put on a little act?
"Just like you said, Lord Aizen knows everything. Rather than pretending not to know you, it is better to keep things simple and do whatever makes me happy," Sora Inoue said without the slightest concern.
"So does that mean you've really become our diplomatic ambassador from the World of the Living to Hueco Mundo?"
"More or less. I think Lord Aizen probably has that in mind," Sora Inoue said, recalling how Aizen had directly sent him to receive Tsunayoshi and the others. That had been a deliberate way of making the relationship between both sides clear.
If Sora Inoue was still going to continue handling information transfer work in Hueco Mundo, then the title of diplomatic ambassador was not bad.
"Eh? In that case, should Soul Society also place someone in Hueco Mundo?" Kisuke Urahara said.
Their original direction was to unify the power of the Three Worlds and oppose the Wandenreich together. For Soul Society to send someone to stay here was a reasonable choice.
"Mr. Urahara, if it is permitted, I can accept that duty," Ashido said.
He had already adapted to Hueco Mundo's monotonous environment. In his own view, he was a decent candidate.
"Don't worry, Mr. Ashido. Soul Society already sent someone to Hueco Mundo long ago," Tsunayoshi said.
In Tsunayoshi's view, Ashido really was not a good candidate to station in Hueco Mundo. To put it simply, Ashido's personality was too straightforward. When told to eliminate Hollows, he had really stayed in the Menos Forest for more than two hundred years.
"That's right, that's right. Soul Society does indeed already have a candidate."
Hearing Tsunayoshi's words, Kisuke Urahara's eyes brightened. He had already thought of who to throw into that position. Such a person needed to be sufficiently slick in dealing with people and also possess a certain degree of cunning.
The fox inside Las Noches was extremely suitable. On top of that, the person he cared about was living in Soul Society. In a sense, that also placed a shackle on him.
There was simply no candidate more suitable than him.
"Is that so? Then that's good," Ashido replied.
He did not understand Soul Society's current situation, so he chose to follow Kisuke Urahara and the others' arrangements.
"By the way, Brother Inoue, did Aizen give you any instructions?" Tsunayoshi asked.
"No. He only asked me to bring you inside."
"In other words, there's no rush, right? Then I'll trouble you, Brother Inoue, to take us to the Ninth Espada's palace," Tsunayoshi said.
"Aaroniero? That thing is indeed disgusting, but it should not be worth you personally going to kill him, right?" Sora Inoue asked with a frown.
Sora Inoue disliked Aaroniero as well, but he did not think they needed to waste time on him. An Arrancar like that could simply be dealt with casually whenever they happened to encounter him one day.
"Aaroniero himself is not worth it, but Kaien Shiba is worth the trip. He is Ichigo's cousin," Tsunayoshi explained.
"Ichigo's family? Then we really should go."
Sora Inoue nodded in agreement. Toward this almost-brother-in-law of his, separated only by the thinnest layer of paper from becoming family, he was always extremely tolerant. He believed that Ichigo's existence was what kept Orihime Inoue's life from becoming terrible after his own departure.
Speaking of Ichigo, Ichigo was currently walking over while carrying Nel. Nel was lying against his shoulder, tear marks still at the corners of her eyes, as if she had fallen asleep.
"What are you saying about me?" Ichigo asked with a relaxed expression. It seemed that the previous battle had not burdened him at all.
"We were talking about your cousin."
"Kaien Shiba?" Ichigo did not know what expression he should show toward this cousin he had never met. But because of his feelings toward Kūkaku Shiba and Ganju Shiba, he still wanted to help Kaien Shiba if possible.
"Tsunayoshi, if you can, try it. Like with Lady Kuchiki," Ichigo said.
Ichigo had already learned from Rukia that the one constantly hanging around Byakuya's neck was Byakuya's late wife, Rukia's older sister.
"Just do your best," Ichigo added.
Compared to a dead person he had never met, he cared even less to see his friend harmed because of this.
"Of course," Tsunayoshi said with certainty.
The premise of saving someone was still ensuring his own safety.
Under Sora Inoue's lead, the group headed toward Aaroniero's location. Sora Inoue pulled out a small notebook and casually asked, "Ichigo, what is Nnoitra's current situation?"
At the mention of Nnoitra, Ichigo scratched his head somewhat awkwardly and said, "Well… I accidentally cut him to death."
The atmosphere fell silent for a brief moment.
Everyone present had some understanding of Ichigo's personality. Although Ichigo had sounded fierce earlier when he shouted at Nnoitra, under normal circumstances, Ichigo should only have beaten Nnoitra until he could no longer stand. He would not easily go for the kill.
"Nel's decision?" Tsunayoshi asked, looking at the small Arrancar in Ichigo's arms.
The only possibility he could think of was that after Ichigo defeated his opponent, Nel, as the one seeking revenge, decided not to spare Nnoitra's life.
But that did not fit Nel's own personality. Little Nel was timid and afraid of trouble, so she would not make such a decision. Adult Nel's nature was even kinder, and she would not cruelly kill a Hollow who had already lost the ability to fight.
"No. That Arrancar could be considered a ruthless guy too. After I knocked him down, he told me to kill him directly. Of course I wouldn't do that."
"Maybe he recognized Nel. He told me that the wound on Nel's head was something he left when Nel had no ability to resist. He told me that if I wanted revenge, I should return the favor and give him the same wound."
"At the time, I got a little carried away. Thinking about how Nel had almost died by his hand, I agreed and cut him across the head the same way Nel had been cut."
"So he was killed by Tensa Zangetsu?" Tsunayoshi asked curiously.
"No way. Wouldn't that make it look like I killed him on purpose?" As Tensa Zangetsu's wielder, Ichigo was very clear that its power was not something a defenseless Arrancar could withstand.
"I switched to a smaller blade, one that looked exactly like Tensa Zangetsu. Logically speaking, that Arrancar should only have been left with a scar like Nel's."
"What I didn't expect was that the instant my blade cut his forehead, his Reiatsu collapsed completely. He himself turned into Reishi and vanished."
"What terrible luck…" Ichigo commented.
In Ichigo's view, that small blade could not possibly have killed Nnoitra. It was clearly Nnoitra's own body that had been unable to endure the damage from their previous battle. Yet now Nnoitra's death had been counted on his head. No matter how Ichigo thought about it, it left him feeling unpleasant.
"Turned into Reishi…"
Among the group, only Tsunayoshi's expression became extremely strange. He looked at Ichigo and raised an eyebrow.
"Don't tell me the thing you used was Quincy power, a Heilig Pfeil shaped exactly like Tensa Zangetsu?"
Ichigo's arrow looked extremely similar to Tensa Zangetsu in appearance. It had simply shrunk from a long blade to the length of an ordinary arrow.
"How did you know?" Ichigo was shocked.
If he had not sensed the changes in Tsunayoshi's Reiatsu during the battle, he might even have suspected that Tsunayoshi had secretly watched his fight.
Tsunayoshi rubbed his brow with a headache. "After we go back this time, train your Quincy power properly. Your Schrift power has already begun to manifest."
If nothing unexpected had happened, then the thing that killed Nnoitra was Ichigo's Schrift power.
All-Killing.
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