Even if he was trash, Di Roy was trash who had spent a long time with them!
The one-horned Arrancar thought of Di Roy's face. Not long ago, that same face had smiled and said he absolutely had to come with them, even if he might die at the hands of a Shinigami.
Because he didn't want to fall behind Lord Grimmjow's advancing footsteps—the footsteps of the king they had given up on, yet still refused to abandon.
Now that the guy was dead, none of them had the right to claim a life in return for his death. The only one with that right was Lord Grimmjow. He had already arrived, and he would definitely take Di Roy back.
And they only needed to continue executing Lord Grimmjow's orders: shatter the convictions of these weak Shinigami piece by piece, until they finally died in despair!
Showing weakness to the enemy? No, there was no need to deliberately pretend or create an illusion. Renji understood that, right now, he *was* the weaker party.
Flee in the chaos? The opponent wouldn't give him such an opportunity. There was only one way to leave: go all out and defeat the enemy!
"Bankai, Hihiō Zabimaru!"
A pale pink fur cowl appeared out of thin air on his shoulders. At this moment, Renji resembled a furiously roaring ape, brandishing the bizarre weapon in his hands to tear the person in front of him to shreds.
Looking at the massive, beige body resembling withered bones, the one-horned Arrancar had the illusion that the opponent was not holding a weapon, but rather a serpentine Menos.
The giant snake head draped in bright red fur had a pair of yellow eyes that emitted an intimidating gleam. The faint, piercing shrieks—it was unknown whether they were the sound of its fangs slicing through the air, or if the thing itself possessed life.
Renji's attack was sudden. The one-horned Arrancar only had time to horizontally block with his blade against the upper jaw of the giant snake head, pressing down hard to prevent the sharp fangs from touching him. At the same time, the massive impact forced him to continuously slide backward.
According to their intelligence, there weren't many Shinigami capable of using Bankai. The one-horned Arrancar looked quite intrigued. Looking at the man not far away with blood still lingering at the corner of his mouth, cornering this guy made the trip worthwhile!
Just as he thought. Renji didn't find it strange at all to see his Bankai blocked so effortlessly. He was currently the weaker party, and naturally, that included when using his Bankai.
But right now, he had seized the initiative. As long as he launched a continuous barrage of attacks, there was absolutely a chance—a chance to defeat or even slay the opponent. Using his Bankai, he wasn't *that* much weaker than the enemy!
Renji swung his arm. The bone snake's body suddenly sank, and the snake head trembled slightly as if to break through the restraint above it.
The one-horned Arrancar's mouth curved into a smirk. He stomped his right foot fiercely onto the snake head, flying into the air along with the abruptly rearing giant snake.
The word 'fly' seemed somewhat inaccurate. At this moment, his feet were firmly planted on the upper jaw of the snake head. No matter how hard the big guy tried, it couldn't hurt him.
Bending his knees and exerting a sudden burst of force, the one-horned Arrancar shot toward Renji on the ground like an arrow released from a bowstring. He didn't seem worried that the opponent might suddenly run away and let him crash headfirst into the ground.
Of course he had this confidence. In that brief moment of clashing, he believed he had already figured out most of Renji's Bankai.
First, the bone giant snake that seemed like a living creature actually lacked self-awareness. In other words, it was really just a somewhat massive viper blade.
And this point was crucial. Since it was an unconscious weapon, every step of its movement required corresponding manipulation from its master. Was this manipulation method the master's consciousness? Or was it Reiryoku?
The one-horned Arrancar leaned toward the latter. The tail end of the snake held in Renji's hand was likely the medium for manipulation, which also meant that such a Bankai could absolutely not be let go of midway. Such a massive weapon inevitably led to restricted movement. Although it wasn't to the point of being completely immobilized, trying to pull back to a safe distance in a short time was probably impossible. Fleeing with his head in his hands while dragging a long tail? That image was truly a bit comical.
In truth, the massive Hihiō Zabimaru was very agile. Because it was basically controlled by Reiryoku, compared to his Shikai—which primarily relied on monotonous extension and retraction—Renji's Bankai was very balanced in both offense and defense.
But the agility of the blade did not equate to personal agility. Renji knew very well that after releasing his Bankai, he was even more vulnerable than an unarmed Byakuya after releasing Senbonzakura.
He couldn't put down the Zanpakutō in his hands. The massive Zabimaru restricted him to moving almost exclusively within a small radius. The closer the enemy got to him, the harder it was for him to attack or defend. If someone could appear right in front of him in an instant, it would truly be a disaster.
Watching the Arrancar charging toward him at extreme speed, Renji couldn't help but furrow his brows. This somewhat arrogant guy had an unexpectedly meticulous mind.
The opponent seemed to have already figured out exactly how to deal with his Hihiō Zabimaru. He didn't care at all about the snake head chasing from behind, looking very confident that he would reach Renji before it did.
But this was also his biggest miscalculation. Renji slashed through the air. The giant snake, which was originally coiling vertically in his hands, suddenly bent its body in a bizarre manner while the head remained stationary, sweeping horizontally toward the charging Arrancar.
The opponent had miscalculated. Hihiō Zabimaru was far more agile than he imagined!
Actually, there was no miscalculation. The one-horned Arrancar remained unhurried. The long blade in his hand slashed quickly, leaving several intersecting crescent moons in the night sky. The snake body, which was even taller than he was, was instantly chopped into two or three segments, not affecting him in the slightest.
If one looked closely, the severed segments of the snake body were all exactly the same length. And this was the second flaw he had discovered—the joints.
This massive bone snake was actually like a spine, composed of individual bone segments. The joints between the bones were the key to supporting its agile movements, and naturally, this was also its weakness.
In truth, such a weakness was still very difficult to target in battle. If one lacked sufficient strength, it was almost impossible to strike exactly at the joints of the snake's body during high-speed movements.
And although those bone segments looked like withered bones that would shatter at a touch, an ordinary person would likely find it very difficult to forcefully sever them.
Of course, the joints were only a *possible* weakness. To be safe, this one-horned Arrancar had slashed at each joint at least three times. Even if his estimation was wrong, he was confident he could adapt, block the incoming snake body, and escape to a higher altitude.
To be honest, he was a bit disappointed. Three strikes weren't needed at all; just a light slash was enough to break those fragile joints.
That Shinigami capable of using Bankai also seemed a bit flustered, swinging his blade madly at him. He almost folded the remaining half of the snake body together, the spikes on its back slicing quickly like a running chainsaw, as if this alone could stop him.
How naive! The one-horned Arrancar immediately spun his long blade into an impenetrable defense, as if erecting an invisible wall of air in mid-flight. The headless snake body crashed into it and instantly shattered into countless fragments.
Amidst the sky full of withered bones, he finally arrived in front of Renji and thrust his blade forward without hesitation!