The vast garden had been reduced to a wasteland by Ikomi-kidomoe’s violence.
Grimmjow, who stood in front of it, breathed raggedly as a bold smile broke out on his face.
“Hah…that all you’ve got?”
He spoke as though he were tough, but he was a mess of wounds.
“How insolent, for a mere lowly soldier…”
It wasn’t only him that collided with the monster head-on, but Halibel and Nelliel, as well as all the members of the Corpse Unit, on whom deep wounds had been inflicted.
Had Ikomikidomoe simply been a gigantic Hollow, he would have been a small fry to Grimmjow and the other Arrancars. However, this monstrosity called Ikomikidomoe that had been turned into a zanpaku-to was a singularity that contained all the advantages of a Gillian’s largeness, the variation of an Adjuchas, and also the density of a Vasto Lorde’s spiritual pressure.
The Hollow’s large form did not seem to slow him down in the slightest, and the way that he could simply move using sonido was just a nightmare, considering how massive he was. By hurling himself at a speed undetectable to the eye he could break several bones, and even if his target dodged him, his talons were like gigantic trees, raining down on them with the speed of a zanpaku-to.
The scene looked like humans wielding Japanese swords against a Japanese chimera, but it wasn’t as though Ikomikidomoe was entirely unwounded. Though he continued to instantly regenerate, the spiritual pressure he consumed to do that surpassed the spiritual pressure that he could take in from his surroundings. Then again, those around him could clearly see that if they eased up on the offensive even slightly, his wounds would immediately heal.
“Oh well, this is so inelegant. I think at this rate all we can do is make you exhaust your energy in vain,” Dordoni said, analyzing his enemy’s fighting ability.
Next to him Halibel agreed. “I share the sentiment. This isn’t the type of opponent we can stop with one effort.”
“Yes, there’s no reason to be stingy with him.”
Looking at Nelliel, who was standing some distance away as she spoke, Dordoni broke into a smile and shrugged.
“Well, well. I would never have believed I’d be fighting alongside the person who stripped me of my number three. I suppose I should think of fate as a way to savor the deep flavors of life, like fruit liqueur in a chocolate latte.”
“I don’t really understand the metaphor, but that sounds kind of good,” Nelliel replied with a deadpan look on her face. “I have many opinions about you, but this isn’t the time, I suppose. I’ll take my time paying you back what you deserve next time.”
Nelliel was staring at him with a strange pressure, and Dordoni was flustered as he called out, “Huh?! Pay me back?! For what?! Did I do something to you, Nelliel?!”
“When I was small, you did plenty of things, didn’t you? Like trying to blow me away, trying to kick me to death, and worst of all, trying to use me in order to bring out Ichigo’s powers.”
“What are you talking…oh, well, wait just one minute! This spiritual pressure and the color of your hair… You couldn’t possibly potentially be… Wha?!”
As though a strange thought had just come to him, Dordoni was plainly confused, but before he could re-spond, Ikomikidomoe’s talon rained down and gouged at the surroundings.
“My my, to not allow us even the time for banter is the epitome of inelegance, beastie. However, it has been a while since I have had an invigorating battle. It is unfortunate this is not a duel, but let us dance to our heart’s content!” Dordoni yelled, then unleashed his own abilities.
“Whirl, Giralda!”
A tornado wriggling like a two-headed snake surrounded Dordoni, and two giant beaklike bone fragments at the end of each tunnel of wind struck at Ikomikidomoe’s gigantic form.
Because of the mods Szayelaporro and Mayuri Kurotsuchi had added to him, his base power was vastly increased from when he fought Ichigo Kurosaki. The speed of his wind was several times faster than before, and their very existence gouged into the ground around him. The earth and sand intermingled into the pair of rampaging wind whips, turning the wind into gales that seemed as though they would smash apart everything within range.
“Fool. You think something as piddling as that could… Hm?”
Though Ikomikidomoe calmly attempted to flick away the attack, the tornado gradually began to transform. As though syncing with Dordoni’s tornado, Halibel had drawn turbulent waters close to it. The eddy of water and wind mixed to turn into a waterspout of rampaging hell with cold fangs crossing through it as it surrounded Ikomikidomoe.
“Curse you…you impudent mites…”
After his irritated voice rang out, Ikomikidomoe’s gigantic eye once again started to glow. Though Ikomikidomoe animatedly moved to try to release an explosive multi-directional Cero to blow away the whole waterspout, suddenly a section of the waterspout near his eyes exploded and turned into vapor, robbing him of his vision.
“Hm?!”
“Ugh, he reattached stuff I already ditched. That perverted scientist is so aggravating,” muttered Cirucci, who was in Resurrección form a slight distance away.
The woman, who bore gigantic birdlike wings, had shot her iron Golondrina blade into the waterspout. Her blade, whose rotation had drastically increased in frequency of cycles due to her mods, would instantly scatter any water or earth they touched. She had used that to create a smoke screen from earth, water, and spiritual pressure to blind Ikomikidomoe as she pierced his body.
“…What insolence!”
Ikomikidomoe’s enraged bellow resounded.
That smoke screen was able to blind his senses for a mere moment.