Chapter 146: The Frozen World, The Fallen Girl
Whoosh~
In the vast sea of blood, the three white light spots were like ants, not valued at all by the god above.
One after another, blood waves slapped against the energy shield formed by Inoue Orihime, exhausting tremendous mental power. As waterspouts passed by, their bodies kept floating on the blood sea, gradually approaching the center of the whirlpool.
"Kurosaki-kun, can we find a way to get closer to him?"
Because Inoue had been using mental power to maintain the protective shield so it wouldn't shatter from Jilianka's attacks, her brain was already exhausted to its absolute limit, her face pale. If not for her own willpower supporting her, she would have collapsed long ago.
"What do you want to do, Inoue?"
"It's too late to explain, Kurosaki-kun. I'm about to lose consciousness!"
At this moment, Inoue closed her eyes, gritted her teeth and struggled to support herself, and sweat slowly dripped down from both sides of the girl's cheeks.
Seeing Inoue's resolute attitude, Kurosaki Ichigo and Hollow Ichigo first looked at each other, then both jumped out of the protective cover simultaneously.
Relying on mutual support, they were like two light dragonflies on a lake, stepping on the blood beneath their feet and approaching Inoue step by step.
"Although I don't know your reason, I'm willing to believe you!"
Kurosaki Ichigo and Hollow Ichigo came to Inoue's side one after the other. They grabbed Inoue's delicate form simultaneously, then jumped high and threw her forcefully in Jilianka's direction.
At this moment, Jilianka looked at those below with great confusion, feeling very puzzled by their behavior of throwing their companion at him. Before giving any chance to react, Inoue had already fallen into the sea at his feet.
At this time, Kurosaki Ichigo and Hollow Ichigo, having lost their leverage, lost momentum simultaneously and began falling. Just when they thought they'd be swallowed by the blood sea, they heard a "crack" and hit heavily upon ice.
At this moment, snowflakes had begun falling from the sky at some point, and the endless blood sea beneath Jilianka's feet was frozen by ice instantly, even his lower body in the blood sea.
"This... cold air!"
Jilianka was startled initially, and he immediately understood what happened. He pressed two giant hands on the ice, trying to pull out his body.
However, the moment his arm touched the ice, it continued spreading along his arm, and soon Jilianka's limbs were frozen.
"No, no, no, no!"
Jilianka murmured softly, as if foreseeing what would happen next. Just when he made a decisive decision to abandon his limbs and keep a trace of his soul to escape, a delicate palm had already been placed on Jilianka's huge head.
At this time, except for two movable eyes and a mouth, all other parts of Jilianka's body had been frozen.
"Do you want to leave, Jilianka?"
Inoue's icy blue eyes didn't contain a trace of human emotion as she spoke gently.
Kurosaki Ichigo and Hollow Ichigo, who'd fallen onto the ice, looked at Inoue whose temperament had completely changed, and instantly understood in their hearts that only that man could do this.
"Moros, you traitor!"
Jilianka's huge eyeballs rolled wildly, his lips opening and closing.
"Hehe, this is the Kingdom of God you worked so hard to build. If you abandon it and run away, you'll completely fall from the position of god. Are you willing?"
"Oh, I'm sorry—I said that somewhat excessively. Now you don't want to talk about running away—even speaking is very difficult."
Using Inoue's body, Fiander employed the law power within to directly freeze Jilianka's Kingdom of God—that is, Kurosaki Ichigo's spiritual world.
"Why... dare to break into my territory? Aren't you afraid of death?"
Jilianka made an unbelievable sound. For a god, unless attacked by several gods of the same rank, rashly stepping into another god's kingdom was suicidal, especially for Fiander with only a ray of soul and no body.
"How could this be courting death? I worked so hard to lure you out!"
Fiander sneered: "I don't know how many of you escaped. You were lucky—you hid in your godhood and came to this world with me."
"When I realized your soul still existed, I knew that if I kept this godhood with me, with your cowardly character, you'd definitely hide forever, even if this world was destroyed you wouldn't emerge."
"That's why I set up this game. Of course, not only because of you—you're just a dispensable pawn in my plan, not important at all!"
Fiander patted Jilianka's huge face, then, under Ichigo and the others' shocked eyes, Inoue Orihime extended her slender fingers and inserted them directly into Jilianka's head.
A ray of blue light wanted to burst from the head and was instantly turned into an ice sculpture.
"Eternal Winter—Stella's Funeral!"
As the white world fell silent, dazzling white light illuminated the entire sky.
Hollow Ichigo and Ichigo immediately raised their hands to cover their eyes. When the tingling sensation in their eyes disappeared, they slowly lowered their arms, opened their eyes and looked around.
At this moment, the entire world was shrouded in ice and snow, the air filled with snowflakes, and the surroundings so foggy one could see or hear nothing.
Except for the cold wind whistling past, the world seemed suddenly quiet.
"Where's Inoue? What did that guy do to Inoue?"
A bad feeling surged in Kurosaki Ichigo's heart.
At this time, Hollow Ichigo also got up and asked Ichigo: "What's happening? Has that monster been dealt with?"
As a tenant in Ichigo's body, Hollow Ichigo was bitter about being squeezed out and suppressed by Jilianka, because he'd always wanted to occupy Ichigo's body and become the new king.
In the end, a ruthless character came and forced him to cooperate with Ichigo, the original owner—what a disgrace.
"I don't know..."
Ichigo shook his head blankly, then extended his hand. A snowflake lightly fell into Ichigo's palm.
The soft snow, without any texture or temperature, seemed like cotton.
"Why can't I feel the cold? Can you feel it?"
Just when Ichigo wanted to ask Hollow Ichigo beside him, he found the other had already disappeared without any movement—just vanished soundlessly.
"Partner..."
Ichigo had a complex look on his face, not understanding what happened.
Suddenly, a cold male voice resounded from the sky above: "How can things that happened in a dream have texture?"
"It's time to wake up, Kurosaki Ichigo!"
As the surrounding scenery continued receding, large amounts of information poured into Ichigo's mind—images constantly flashing.
Since Inoue was brought under the zenith by Fiander, her silent confession...
Until Ichigo's body was frozen, Inoue desperately saved him...
Then, under Fiander's persuasion, Inoue agreed to go to Ichigo's spiritual world together...
Everything that happened in the spiritual world was clearly presented in Ichigo's mind, like movie animation constantly playing...
"Ahh~ahhhh!!"
In a scream of pain, Ichigo covered his head and sat up from the ground panting heavily. His clothes were soaked with sweat, and his originally determined face was now filled with panic.
"Where... where's Inoue..."
Just when Ichigo looked around immediately, trying to find Inoue Orihime's figure, he saw Ulquiorra looking at him with indifferent eyes, though the other showed no intention of attacking.
"Ulquiorra?"
Although his opponent wasn't attacking, Ichigo knew this guy had been his enemy not long ago, so he carefully held Tensa Zangetsu beside him and pointed it at him: "Why are you here, Ulquiorra!"
Seeing Kurosaki Ichigo suddenly get up and look at him with hostility, Ulquiorra first breathed a sigh of relief—it seemed Fiander had solved the strange thing possessing Kurosaki Ichigo—then slowly said: "I am not your enemy, Kurosaki Ichigo"
Ulquiorra extended his fingers to push away Ichigo's blade, then pointed behind him: "Are you looking for that woman?"
"There she lies."
Looking in the direction Ulquiorra pointed, he saw a frail girl lying unconscious on the zenith ground, looking very peaceful.
At this time, Ichigo first looked at his body and found that he, who'd been scarred and battered, had recovered from all his injuries—only Inoue Orihime could do this.
Ichigo used Shunpo to go straight to Inoue and began checking her condition.
Under Hueco Mundo's moonlight, the girl with peaceful face lay on the ground with her hands stacked on her abdomen, a smile on her face, without a trace of life.
"Inoue... how?"
Ichigo's face was filled with horror now, no longer showing the confidence and perseverance he'd had when facing the god Jilianka.
Because the girl before him had no breathing sound.
"She is dead, Kurosaki Ichigo. She died to save you!"
At this moment, Ulquiorra's voice rang in Ichigo's ear.
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