“I will put my whole heart into beating them!”
“Is that…Hikone Ubuginu?”
Just seeing Hikone made a cold sweat break out on Nanao’s back.
Outwardly, Hikone appeared to be nothing more than a young child who could not be determined to be a girl or boy. However, that was not in alignment with the concentration of spiritual pressure the being called Hikone contained, which made the child all the eerier.
The young “Soul Reaper-like thing” brightly unsheathed their own zanpaku-to.
“Thank you very much! It finally grew to this level because of the fight you all let me have with you!”
After bobbing their head in a bow, they spoke their zanpaku-to’s release.
Of course, the release was entirely different from any of the ones Hikone had used until that point.
“Hatch and perish, Ikomikidomoe.”
Then it let out its birthing wail.
Accompanied by a fierce tornado of reishi, the blade of the zanpaku-to swelled and formed the shape of a single living creature. Compared to the gigantic monstrosity from earlier, it was reduced in size, but despite that, when Ikomikidomoe stood on the ground he was a grotesque object slightly larger than a house.
The impression the creature’s form gave off more acutely than before was that it specialized in indiscriminate killing.
For how the creature had shrunk, its spiritual pressure had become even more concentrated, as though it had balanced with Hikone’s abnormal bearing in strength. This white monstrosity was surrounded by an overwhelming atmosphere that likely would have prevented a powerless Soul Reaper from so much as standing before it. It conjured to mind the image of the beast that would bring about the end of the world.
Hikone, who stood on top of it, looked out at all the surrounding faces with eyes that seemed both pure and empty, as they politely bowed their head.
“I’m so happy I got to meet you all! Even after I kill you, I will never forget our memories! Thank you so much!”
Hikone ran Blut Arterie, characteristic of Quincies, through their hands and did something nearly unbelievable. They created a bow directly from the reishi in the air and used Quincy abilities to condense a Cero arrow, which they fired.
“Seriously. Now you’ve really done it. Sheesh.”
Liltotto’s voice was composed, but she clucked her tongue in amazement.
Hollow reishi released using that Quincy technique approached them—and in narrowly avoiding this attack by an element they were incompatible with, the Quincies had a realization. The realization was that the Hollow reishi contained in the arrow was incredibly potent. Had they been hit directly, a normal human or Soul Reaper would sustain a fatal wound, not to mention the Quincies, for whom the Hollow factor was poison.
Meanwhile, Grimmjow and the other Arrancars were turning cautious eyes not to Hikone, but to the monstrosities being created by the zanpaku-to.
“Seems strange. He has the body of an Adjuchas, but his spiritual pressure is on Vasto Lorde level… No, it would be pretty high even among the Arrancars.”
With that, Halibel referenced the character of their opponent: “Based on what he’s said, it seems he would be an ancient Menos that lived around Barragan’s time.”
Considering some of what that thing had said to them earlier, even if Ikomikidomoe wasn’t the oldest Hollow, they could guess he had lived a long life from far before their time. But why would a being like that have become one of the Soul Society’s zanpaku-to? Halibel didn’t know the reason, but what she was certain about was that though he was a Hollow like them, at present, he was not their ally.
The polar opposite of Halibel and Nelliel, who let themselves speculate about what their opponent might be, Grimmjow’s mind was set simply and exclusively to pondering how to bring down the opponent before his eyes.
“Cut, Pantera!”
The moment he said his release, a zephyr of spiritual pressure blew around him as well and struck Ikomikidomoe’s large body like a whirlwind. In order to release his full strength right from the start, he swung his sword and transformed into his Resurrección form. Then he immediately leapt at Ikomikidomoe.
Taking that as a cue, Halibel and Nelliel also spoke their Resurrección releases.
“Hunt, Tiburon.”
“Praise, Gamuza.”
The storm of spiritual pressure raged in the palace courtyard like a frothing current.
“Oh!” As he watched the Arrancars transform into their Resurrección states one after another, Kenpachi Zaraki cried out in delight. When the captain saw Grimmjow’s form and spiritual pressure as the Hollow immediately accepted the fight, he said with a fiendish grin on his face, “I see. That blue-haired prick isn’t all bark.”
“Um…Captain. I must at least remind you that right now we’re on the same side as that guy.”
When Madarame pointed that out, just in case, the corner of Kenpachi’s lip lifted and he replied, “He is—for now.”
Then, while shouldering his zanpaku-to, Kenpachi surveyed the spiritual pressures of Tokinada, Hikone, and Ikomikidomoe and murmured appraisingly, “All right then…which one of them’s the strongest?”
However, as though to obstruct his evaluation, there was a change in Ikomikidomoe.
From all sides, the Arrancars—Corpse Unit included—attacked.
Ikomikidomoe remained immobile to the very end while taking the brunt of the attack, but then eventually lowered himself and quietly enlarged his spiritual pressure. Just then a gigantic eye seemed to open in the middle of his body like Fura, and his body started to gleam.
“Hm? What the hell is that?”
“I can’t figure out what he’s aiming for, but that sure doesn’t give you a good feeling, does it?”
Standing in front of Madarame and Yumichika, who were both on guard as they wondered what was happening, Kenpachi narrowed his eyes as he said, “All right, you two, buck up.”
“Huh?”
“If you don’t, you’ll end up dead.”
After Kenpachi’s breezy warning, he proceeded to unsheathe his zanpaku-to and bring it down in a vertical line. At the same time, an enormous amount of reishi was discharged from Ikomikidomoe’s body.
The blinding light swallowed a part of the Kyogoku.
The Cero went in all directions.
It couldn’t really be called a Cero so much as a reishi explosion that centered on his body. Just as soon as the ground lifted and the palace’s roof tiles were pulled off and sent flying, they vanished.