Chapter 447: March Breaks the Deadlock
Mimi, who had been huddled in the corner trembling with fear, now stared at the scene unfolding before her. Her wide eyes were entirely consumed by shock, completely overriding the terror that had gripped her just moments ago.
"Mi... Mimi, mi?" (Everyone... everyone actually... held them off?)
The little creature's gaze locked onto the dead center of the battlefield, where two violently contrasting colors of light collided with world-shaking intensity.
Stelle and the main body of the black-robed figure were trapped in a brutal stalemate. The blistering heat of Stelle's flaming lance met the cold, shadowy arcs of the enemy's blade in a continuous, deafening clash. Every time their weapons crossed, heart-stopping ripples of kinetic energy blasted outward, tearing up the ground beneath their feet.
But what surprised Mimi the most was the situation on March's side.
Initially, the energetic archer had been struggling. March had habitually opened the fight with her signature ice bow, attempting to control the battlefield from a safe distance by raining down a continuous barrage of freezing arrows.
However, the shadow clone she faced seemed to have perfectly predicted her combat style. Its movement trajectory was bizarre and completely unpredictable. The dark figure slipped through the narrowest gaps between her slowing zones, closing the distance at terrifying speeds to unleash a flurry of swift, lethal melee slashes.
Clang! Clang, clang!
The pitch-black blade hacked viciously against the Six-Phase Ice shield March had hastily condensed. The teeth-grinding screech of metal on magical ice echoed through the air. Jagged shards of frost flew in every direction, and within seconds, the shield's surface was marred by a dense network of spiderweb-like cracks.
March was forced into a desperate retreat. Her bow was far too cumbersome for this kind of extreme close-quarters combat, leaving her scrambling to dodge. Her breathing grew ragged, her chest heaving as she barely evaded another lethal swipe.
"This won't do..." March gritted her teeth. She raised her nearly shattered ice shield to absorb one last heavy slash, using the tremendous force of the impact to slide several meters backward across the dirt. As she stabilized her footing, her pink-blue eyes hardened with sudden resolve.
"Little Moon!" she called out in a sharp whisper.
At her command, the small companion floating by her side sprang into action. Little Moon's translucent body pulsed with a soft glow, releasing several pale blue ribbons of light. Like drifting starlight, the ethereal tendrils gently brushed against the pursuing shadow clone.
These ribbons dealt no physical damage, yet they carried a strange, heavy property of "sluggishness." The moment they touched the clone, the dark figure's terrifying speed hitched, its movements visibly dragging as if submerged in deep water.
It was only a momentary opening, but it was all March needed.
She instantly dismissed her ice bow. Reaching out with her now-free right hand, she decisively summoned her trump card—the Zanpakuto, Sode no Shirayuki.
The hilt materialized in her palm, biting cold against her skin. Yet, instead of freezing her, the weapon began to connect violently with the latent power humming in her veins. She took a deep, steadying breath, focusing her entire spirit onto the pristine white blade.
"Dance, Sode no Shirayuki," she chanted softly.
In an instant, a pure, blinding chill erupted outward, using March as ground zero. This cold was entirely different from the physical freezing nature of her Six-Phase Ice; it possessed an ethereal clarity, a biting frost that pierced straight through the physical realm and directly into the soul.
The Zanpakuto transformed. The blade elongated, becoming flawlessly crystalline as if forged from the purest glacial snow. An elegant white ribbon materialized from the pommel, fluttering gracefully in the freezing wind.
Shikai, complete.
Holding Sode no Shirayuki, March's entire aura shifted. The usual playful, chaotic energy of the Astral Express's photographer vanished, replaced by the razor-sharp calmness of a seasoned swordswoman born of ice and snow.
She no longer retreated. Instead, she pushed off the ground, actively charging to meet the shadow clone just as it finally tore through Little Moon's interference.
"First Dance, Tsukishiro."
Her sword swung in a flawless arc. The blade light was as smooth as silk, carrying a chill meant to freeze all creation and a very specific, spiritual fluctuation designed to target the soul. It sliced silently through the air.
The clone instinctively raised its pitch-black sword to block, but this time, the collision defied all its calculations.
Sshhh—!
The moment the shadowy metal clashed with Sode no Shirayuki, there was no deafening ring of steel. Instead, a subtle, eerie sound echoed out—the distinct noise of something being instantly frozen solid, and then cleanly severed.
The clone's body convulsed violently. Its movements grew incredibly sluggish, and the thick, suffocating shadows that made up its form visibly thinned out, struggling to maintain their cohesion.
"It's working!" March's eyes lit up.
Her confidence surged, and she didn't hesitate for a fraction of a second. She unleashed a relentless flurry of strikes. Bone-chilling arcs of light crisscrossed the battlefield, carrying the terrifying soul-freezing effect of her Zanpakuto, completely enveloping the shadowy entity.
Trapped within the icy domain of Sode no Shirayuki, the clone's speed advantage was entirely neutralized. Every counterattack it attempted grew weaker, its shadowy blade constantly chipped away by the spiritual frost.
The tide of the battle had completely flipped. From being heavily suppressed, to fighting evenly, to thoroughly dominating her opponent—it had taken March less than a minute. The longer she fought, the more natural the blade felt in her hands. Her mastery over Sode no Shirayuki's unique power deepened with every swing, a sudden flood of martial enlightenment washing over her mind.
Spotting a tiny, fatal opening created by another of Little Moon's starlight ribbons, March narrowed her eyes. She gripped the hilt with both hands and raised the crystalline blade high above her head.
A blinding, pristine light gathered along the edge of the sword, pulling in all the ambient light and dropping the surrounding temperature to absolute zero.
"Take this—Frost Dance: Moon Splendor!" she shouted, her voice ringing clear across the chaotic battlefield.
She brought the blade down with overwhelming force. The Zanpakuto unleashed a massive, crescent-shaped slash of pure energy. It was as bright and cold as a full moon, yet incredibly sharp, crashing down upon the clone like an avalanche.
This ultimate strike perfectly fused extreme physical freezing power with the Zanpakuto's absolute lethality against souls and energy-based entities.
The clone desperately raised its sword in a final attempt to block, but before that overwhelming moonlight, its resistance was pitiful. The pitch-black blade shattered instantly. The moonlight washed over the clone's body, and just like snow exposed to the blazing sun, it rapidly dissolved. The shadows melted away from the point of contact, turning into wisps of harmless black smoke before being completely annihilated.
Not a single trace remained. It was incapable of reforming.
"I... I actually did it?" March kept her sword lowered in the follow-through stance, staring at the empty, frost-covered ground in pure disbelief. She blinked, looking down at the softly glowing Sode no Shirayuki in her hands.
She was actually the first one to completely eliminate an opponent? And she had done it so flawlessly?
"Opportunity!" March snapped out of her daze, her tactical instincts kicking in as she swept her gaze across the rest of the battlefield.
With March now freed up to assist, the overall battle quickly snowballed into a one-sided slaughter. The remaining clones, already struggling against the combined might of the group, were swiftly dismantled. More, the enemy seemed entirely incapable of resummoning them.
The chaotic battlefield instantly cleared up. Now, all the suffocating pressure converged on the dead center of the clearing, entirely focused on the main body of the black-robed figure still locked in a death match with Stelle.
Their duel had reached a white-hot climax. The blazing, explosive heat of Stelle's fiery strikes clashed relentlessly against the treacherous, shifting shadows of the enemy. The speed at which they exchanged blows was blinding, leaving afterimages scattered across the cratered earth.
Stelle's offensive was wide, sweeping, and devastating, carrying the indomitable, reckless momentum of a true Trailblazer. In stark contrast, the black-robed figure's swordplay was vicious and precise, stabbing out from impossible, physics-defying angles while radiating a chilling aura that sought to devour vitality.
They were perfectly matched. For the moment, neither could land a decisive blow.
Castorice, Anaxa, and Trianne, having successfully disengaged from their respective fights, watched the central clash intently from the rear. None of them dared to step forward blindly. Anaxa was heavily panting, desperately needing a moment to catch her breath, while the sheer velocity and violent energy turbulence of Stelle's fight made any rash intervention far too dangerous. Stepping in at the wrong second could easily backfire and disrupt Stelle's rhythm.
March, still riding the high of her victory, gripped her Zanpakuto and looked toward the center. But as she felt the suffocating shockwaves of energy radiating from the main body, the confidence she had just built up wavered.
Defeating a mere clone was one thing. Stepping into the meat grinder to face that terrifying main body was entirely different.
Just then, Dan Heng, who had been standing back and calmly analyzing the flow of the battle, shifted his gaze. He looked at the crystalline Sode no Shirayuki humming in March's hands, and then back to the black-robed figure's main body.
His sharp eyes narrowed thoughtfully, a calculated plan already forming in his mind.
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