If you were to ask if Ques Number Three wanted to escape.
He certainly hadn’t considered it before, but now…
he was indeed starting to panic.
Less than a kilometer away, that terrifying spiritual pressure descended, engulfing him, making his vision go black, his body and mind trembling uncontrollably.
To resist this external force, his stamina burned fiercely.
Although his opponent seemed even more pathetic, having received the memories of Number Two’s death, Number Three now had only one thought: to escape, to escape far, far away, and absolutely not be fooled by the brat’s seemingly exhausted state!
It had to be admitted, Number Three had developed a certain degree of psychological trauma regarding Takashi.
“This spiritual pressure…!”
If Number Three could still hold on, Ichigo and the others almost buckled and fell to the ground, cold sweat pouring down, their hands and feet trembling slightly.
“You’ve got to be kidding!”
They stared dumbfounded in the direction of the spiritual pressure explosion.
They certainly wouldn’t mistake their comrade’s spiritual pressure, and it was precisely because of this that they felt such shock.
This invisible blade, capable of slowly weakening and killing a person, was quickly returned to its sheath by its wielder.
In their perception, everything returned to quiet.
Another Hollow’s spiritual presence quickly extinguished.
Ichigo and the others couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
“Th-that spiritual pressure just now was Takashi’s…?”
Hachihara stammered, her face still showing traces of shock.
“Ah, if I’m not mistaken, it’s his Shikai. There’s no other explanation. Although I don’t know what kind of ability it is, at least his side is finished.”
Ichigo quickly calmed down, his voice firm, gripping his sword hilt.
Kūkaku also murmured, “I imagine that brat doesn’t have the strength to support us anymore. In fact, I hope he doesn’t push himself.”
However…
Kūkaku frowned, looking at the grayish-blue dog-headed Menos Grande, feeling a headache.
Its defense was too strong.
With such defensive power, it was inherently invincible.
Their side could only counter it with well-coordinated teamwork.
Even a slight oversight would lead to them being defeated one by one.
“There’s no perfect defense; there must be a weak point we don’t know about. That brat might know, but there’s no chance to ask now.”
Just as Kūkaku was considering a strategy, Number Three suddenly gathered a Cero in his mouth.
“Oooooooh!”
Ichigo roared with full momentum, charging forward, intending to interrupt the opponent’s Cero.
Unexpectedly, Number Three caught the blade with his bare hand, spun it several times with force, throwing Ichigo away, then fired another Cero, forcing Kūkaku to use Bakudō #81: Dankū to protect her companions.
“Hey, kid, are you alright!”
Ōmaeda agilely caught the thrown Ichigo, striking a proud pose as if to say, good thing I was here.
But Ichigo completely ignored thanking him, instead anxiously shouting, “Miss Kūkaku! My sword…!”
“I see it!”
Kūkaku glared at Number Three, gritting her teeth, “This guy wants to run!”
This statement was actually redundant.
Because Number Three had already opened a Garganta right in front of everyone.
Clearly, having suffered several major losses, Number Three no longer wanted to fight and was preparing to cut his losses and retreat, so he feinted before leaving, snatching Ichigo’s Zanpakutō.
“We will meet again. When we do, I will kill two of you to compensate for my losses.”
“Maybe tomorrow, maybe a month from now, I’ll be watching you, like a curse, following you like a shadow! Until then, live in fear!”
Number Three made a vicious vow.
Anyone could tell he was serious.
Hachihara scoffed.
Rindō didn’t say a word, but his dark eyes showed a chill.
“Who’s afraid of you? Ōmaeda-sama isn’t to be trifled with either… At worst, I’ll just follow the Captain every day.”
Ōmaeda muttered.
Kūkaku had originally wanted to say a few harsh words, but Ichigo, who had been in a frantic hurry, suddenly stood up and stared at Number Three with extreme seriousness.
“You do bad things, kill people, and then just want to leave? How can there be such a cheap thing in this world! And… I won’t let you just take my sword… take my power like this!”
Ichigo’s soul throbbed, responding to his will.
And so, a powerful force blurred his vision, and amidst the unreal, skewed skyscrapers, a man in a black cloak stood silently.
He wore stylish glasses, his face was cold, as if he had experienced a sea of swords and a mountain of flames, unable to be moved by the living, unable to mourn for the dead.
That being said, the man’s gaze towards Ichigo was filled with deep guilt, and his low voice seemed to come from a distant place, yet also sounded in Ichigo’s ears, reverberating in his heart, stimulating some hidden power to gradually revive.
“That’s right, Ichigo… Don’t back down, don’t let yourself regret. I’ve already experienced that once, and I don’t want to see you get hurt again, see you grieve over death. So I won’t refuse to give you power to protect yourself, to protect what you cherish.”
“Although your power is still far from mature, there is still much of your power left. All you need to do is abandon fear, move forward, and call out…”
“Zangetsu!”
Ichigo’s inspired shout caused the two forces within him to achieve a high degree of unity at this moment.
Number Three, who had stepped into the Garganta, suddenly felt something and looked down, discovering that the sword in his hand had turned into a vermilion blade, with a chain at the end extending out of the Garganta.
“This is…”
He subconsciously looked along the chain, and at its end, he saw a pitch-black bow held in the orange-haired brat’s hand, the chain wrapped around his other hand.
“Give it back to me!”
Ichigo pulled the chain with force, unexpectedly dragging the enemy, who was more than three times his size, out of the Garganta.
Then, the chain erupted in a dazzling red light, burning Number Three like lava.
“Ah ah ah ah!”
His body, specialized for defense, appeared exceptionally fragile under this light.
Just as Number Three raised his hand to shield his face, he suddenly felt a pain in his chest, only to see another crimson chained blade plunge into his chest.
His hard body was as useless as it had been against Takashi earlier.
The difference was that Takashi relied on absolute numerical superiority.
Ichigo, on the other hand, utilized the Quincy-Hollow arrow mechanism.
“A… Arturo-sama… I haven’t…!”
Words more bitter than tears became his last will.
Number Three’s body disintegrated and vanished from where he was struck by the arrow.
Thus, a period was put to this battle that did not exist in history.
“Hoo.”
Ichigo let out a breath.
“What a flashy Shikai.”
Before everyone could exclaim, a voice suddenly rang out.
The vigilance lasted only for a brief moment.
The newcomer was Takashi.
“What are you talking about? It’s so practical and cool-looking.”
Ichigo retorted, unconvinced, then pouted, “Your spiritual pressure, though, is growing abnormally. You can tell at a glance that you used some very dangerous technique. Yet you still have the leisure to joke. You should just lie down obediently.”
“You know me. My recovery ability has always been strong. This level of injury will be fine after a good night’s sleep.”
Takashi said lightly.
The Compound Potion can be used twice a day to restore a small amount of spiritual pressure and stamina.
With this, it’s impossible for him to remain weak for long.
“It’s good that you’re fine!”
Kūkaku patted Takashi’s shoulder, then looked at Ichigo with satisfaction. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
“I didn’t expect you two to steal the show this time, but being safe and sound is better than anything.”
“I envy you guys who have already mastered Shikai. I don’t know how much longer I’ll have to wait. Damn it, can’t you get your act together?!”
Ichigo was at a loss whether to cry or laugh, watching Hachihara grumbling at her Zanpakutō.
“Well, don’t rush. This kind of thing relies more on luck. To be honest, I’m completely confused myself and don’t understand what happened. I just used it by feeling… Oh, right, how do I deactivate this?”
“Idiot, didn’t you say it yourself? By feeling.”
Ōmaeda retorted.
“Shut up! This is my first Shikai, how would I know so much? Uh, so it’s like this, right…? Huh?”
Ichigo tried to revert his Zanpakutō to its original state, and it did change, but instead of turning back into an Asauchi, it transformed from a pitch-black longbow into a massive cleaver almost as tall as he was.
He was completely dumbfounded.
He couldn’t understand why this happened.
Not only Ichigo was confused, but even the experienced Kūkaku and Ōmaeda were stunned.
Hachihara and Rindō had even less experience, only showing surprise.
Among everyone present, only Takashi knew what was going on.
“It seems your Shikai has another sword form. Because you mastered it in a hurry, coupled with the special nature of Shikai, you need to skillfully control both forms before it can revert to an Asauchi.”
“Two forms, a Shikai that can switch between them? This is the first time I’ve seen this type. But a sword and a bow, one close and one far, somehow match quite well. It’s a pity they’re not separate, otherwise it would be the Soul Society’s third pair.”
Kūkaku commented, stroking her chin.
Of course, it couldn’t be a dual-blade pair.
Takashi secretly shook his head.
Although he didn’t know what Zangetsu was thinking.
But there was no doubt that some unknown changes had already been made.
From actively suppressing Ichigo’s immature power to prevent him from being drawn into battle and getting hurt, to now suppressing immature power to prevent it from going out of control while actively giving him more power.
Therefore, Ichigo possessed two completely different Shikai.
One represented the fragmented Hollow and Shinigami power, and the other represented the fragmented Quincy and Shinigami power.
Compared to the original timeline, it only seemed like one more Shikai, but it contained profound implications.
After all, Quincy are humans, but Ichigo is no longer human.
He will live in the Soul Society as a Shinigami.
Perhaps, this was also one of the reasons for Zangetsu’s change.
A single path cannot accommodate multiple identities, yet it can carry multiple powers, expanding one’s own path.
From this perspective, choosing a master was indeed the right choice.
Because it was identical to Aizen’s choice.
And the student had surpassed the teacher.
Takashi had a thought.
“Now that the Quincy power has awakened, I wonder what Bankai will be like. Will it be two different forms of Bankai? Or will it be…”
Before he could reach a conclusion, something suddenly changed.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Accompanied by the sound of rushing air, dozens of masked men in black appeared around them, completely surrounding Takashi and the others.
“Onmitsukidō?”
Kūkaku recognized the identities of the newcomers at a glance.
“Captain? Captain! You finally came! You don’t know how miserable I’ve been…!”
Ōmaeda, on the other hand, immediately saw the petite figure standing in mid-air and instantly burst into tears and wails, snot and all.
“Shut up!”
Soi Fon’s brows furrowed, her eyes full of disgust as she glared at him, then withdrew her gaze, stared at Takashi and the others, and waved her hand, giving an order.
“Everyone, including Ōmaeda, bring them back for interrogation!”