"Are you the one who came here to make a fool out of me?"
A deep, ancient voice rang out as Baraggan slowly emerged from behind the trees. Although his hollow eye sockets lacked pupils, he stared intently at Kōe not far away.
"Ant, are you ready to pay the price?"
Facing Baraggan's question, Kōe didn't even turn his head. Strands of white Reiryoku threads suddenly sprouted from his right wrist, tightly wrapping around his mangled right hand.
Guided by these threads, the right hand—which no longer had a single intact bone within its flesh—actually restored itself to its original shape little by little. Aside from being soaked in blood, it looked no different from before.
Only Kōe understood just how terrible his current condition was.
Although he used his powerful and delicate Reiryoku control to imitate the Quincy technique, Ransō Tengai, allowing his right hand to move temporarily, Ransō Tengai was inherently a method meant to force a broken body to fight. Not to mention, his version was merely a pseudo-Ransō Tengai.
The Quincy technique Ransō Tengai utilized Reishi threads, whereas he was using Reiryoku threads. The difference of a single word brought about an immense disparity.
To maintain these Reiryoku threads, Kōe had to constantly output Reiryoku. More importantly, to keep the Reiryoku in the shape of threads, he had to maintain an extremely high level of concentration.
Coupled with the need to dynamically adjust the threads to allow his right hand to move, the continuous Reiryoku output and the delicate, complex Reiryoku manipulation not only increased the Reiryoku consumption of this pseudo-Ransō Tengai but also placed an enormous mental burden on the caster.
And the piercing pain that accompanied every subtle movement was sheer torture to him.
But in order to prevent his efforts from going up in smoke and to break out of this disadvantageous situation, Kōe knew these were things he had to endure.
[Ao's Bakudō・Awl-Sword Chain Binding Net] was meant to be released in tandem with the sealing technique Kōe was about to complete—[Sword Vine Star Seal].
Before the sealing technique was finished, the Bakudō was merely a Bakudō. Once the chains left his left hand, they would cease to exist, and the awl-swords driven into Szayelaporro's body would lose their effect.
Previously, he had intended to seal Szayelaporro first and then focus entirely on dealing with the arriving Baraggan. There would have been plenty of time for that.
Szayelaporro's sudden counterattack seemed to have merely crippled one of his hands, but it had actually forced him into a dilemma.
Either abandon the seal and strive to finish off Baraggan in a short time. If he couldn't manage that, once Szayelaporro recovered using the healing liquids scattered throughout the forest, Kōe would have to face a siege from two Vasto Lorde-class Menos.
Or, ignore the newly arrived Baraggan and seal Szayelaporro first. Of course, if Baraggan attacked directly, the danger of forcefully completing the seal would be no less than the first option.
Calling it a choice was generous; Kōe hadn't even considered the other possibility. He was only one step away, and he absolutely refused to give up on this final step no matter what!
The meaning behind these actions was glaringly obvious in Szayelaporro's eyes. This Shinigami still hadn't let him go. Even at a time like this, he still refused to let him go!
"Madness Theater, Bloody Festival!"
While pushing his ability to its absolute limits, Szayelaporro also made as much noise as possible, signaling Baraggan to stop spouting nonsense!
The Shinigami before him was far from simple. Especially now, an intense unease gripped his heart, along with a bizarre thought: his ability might no longer be able to affect the enemy.
However, his thoughts were destined to never reach Baraggan. Hearing the other Arrancar still spouting drivel like "an ant's confidence is ultimately just foolish stubbornness," Szayelaporro was on the verge of exploding!
At the same time, Kōe suddenly felt his wrist tighten, as if an invisible hand was twisting it. The image of Kuruyashiki Kenpachi's braided, mangled leg instantly flashed through his mind.
"Bankai, Kōki Rakusen Ishō!"
A black shadow flashed, and a pitch-black, loose robe fluttered without wind. His wrist was still twisting on its own, but thanks to the ability of Static Recording, it would revert to its original state in the next second.
This unknown ability was definitely Szayelaporro's doing. Although it differed from the abilities Kōe remembered him having, which was why he had suffered a silent loss.
But he certainly wouldn't give Szayelaporro a second chance to pull the same trick.
His premonition became reality once again. It seemed as if nothing could exceed the expectations of the Shinigami below; in his eyes, there was no such thing as an unexpected accident.
Szayelaporro's ability was named Madness Theater. The liquid secreted by his tentacles could stimulate and control the self-destructive nature of whatever it touched, a process he called bodily madness.
To destroy something, one must first drive it mad, and Szayelaporro was the master of madness. He could control mad objects at will, causing them to repel and slaughter each other; this was exactly why Kōe's right hand had twisted.
At the same time, this madness was contagious. Just as an injured beast is more easily enraged, if a mad body part was forced to change its current state, he could cause the madness to spread. This was Bloody Festival.
By all logic, Kōe's forearm should have already been driven mad by now, and Szayelaporro clearly knew his ability was active.
Yet, the opponent's body was like an infinite, closed time loop, preventing Szayelaporro from inflicting any substantial damage. Even if he wanted to spread the madness further, he couldn't.
He watched helplessly as that blood-dripping right hand pressed heavily against the left arm and swiped down viciously. The final loop of chains turned into black ink, seeping into the arm covered in ugly patterns.
Szayelaporro plunged into unprecedented terror. The loud incantation was somewhat muffled to his ears, and because of this, it sounded like the whispers of a Shinigami, bringing him endless torment.
"Halt upon the soil of flesh and blood, restlessness and unease, drink deep, the gleaming cold light! Bloom, leaving but a single branch!"
Following Kōe's incantation, the black patterns on his arm rapidly converged toward his palm, forming an oval rune that resembled a seed or perhaps a tree's eye.
At this moment, Baraggan finally realized that the Shinigami in front of him was trying to deal with Szayelaporro—and right in front of his face, no less!
Opening and clenching his right hand behind him, a pitch-black, double-bladed giant axe appeared out of thin air. Leaning his body slightly forward, he appeared right in front of Kōe in the next blink of an eye, his giant axe raised high.
"To gaze upon the figure of the King is already the highest honor for an ant like you. To turn a blind eye to me means you don't even have the right to live as an ant!" Baraggan mocked loudly, swinging the giant axe down vertically.
Seeing this, Kōe didn't dodge. He raised his right hand, and his wide sleeve tightened, transforming into a bizarre, perfectly square greatsword that blocked the descending giant axe.
"Born in this land, feet not touching the earth, eyes not reaching the stars, left only to wander in place. Sealing Technique, [Sword Vine Star Seal]!"
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