Chapter 153: Hachigen Sees!
"Have you already said hello?"
Back in the air, a little girl wearing a red coat with two ponytails and a very flirtatious look said.
"Yeah, after all... this is kind of our first real exposure to Soul Society, and a formal meeting is always needed."
"I wanted to say hello to the old man, but now it seems... the situation at the scene is a bit delicate. The old man isn't here, only two Arrancar are still fighting, and Aizen seems to be hiding in that huge fireball."
Hirako Shinji looked at the huge wall of fire created by Yamamoto Genryusai and murmured: "We need to break the deadlock, but we can't lose too much stamina. It seems that Kyoraku and Ukitake have a slight upper hand, so... Hachigen."
"I know!"
Beside Hirako, a middle-aged man with the appearance of a fat uncle nodded slightly, then used Shunpo. In the blink of an eye, he came near Soi-Fon, who was fighting hard with Baraggan.
"Huff huff..."
On the other side, Soi-Fon, captain of the Second Division, was lying pale in her vice-captain's arms. A minute ago, the two were accidentally hit by the opponent's decay ability during their pursuit battle with Baraggan.
Just grazing her fingers, the terrifying power of decay began spreading along her entire arm.
As a last resort, Omaeda had to cut off one of Soi-Fon's arms to save her life.
At this time, Baraggan also had a teasing expression like a cat catching a mouse. After all, the defeat of his subordinates was a disgrace to his honor. For this reason, he chose to torture the two ants slowly to wash away the previous shame.
"Huh? Who is it?"
Hachigen's sudden arrival instantly caught the attention of Sui-Feng and Baraggan.
As Soi-Fon, who only took the captain position nearly a hundred years ago, she had no memory at all of this strange man before her.
"Please don't worry, Miss Soi-Fon. I'm Hachigen. I'm here to support you. Please don't move around—let me heal your wounds first."
After Hachigen finished speaking, he clasped his hands together in a mudra, and blue light instantly appeared on Soi-Fon's severed arm, stopping the bleeding and suppressing the severe pain.
"Huh? Here comes another life-or-death thing!" Baraggan didn't stop Hachigen who came toward him. In the view of the former King of Hueco Mundo, whether the ants to be killed were two or three, it didn't matter at all.
On the contrary, Baraggan hoped that Hachigen's arrival would allow him to enjoy the fun of hunting for a while longer.
"This is... Kido? This level of Reiatsu—why have I never heard of it in Soul Society!"
Although she lost an arm, under Hachigen's treatment, her body was fine. On the contrary, it was the other party's identity that made Soi-Fon very concerned.
But the current situation didn't allow Soi-Fon to think too much. After all, the immediate task was dealing with the Arrancar who possessed decay power.
If she'd known earlier, after the monster achieved Resurreccion, even using Jakuho Raikōben after Bankai, the opponent could easily resolve it.
Moreover, she, who was good at martial skills and close combat, couldn't get close to the opponent at all. The corroded buildings around Baraggan had already told her this fact.
"Miss Soi-Fon, please don't worry about my identity. What we have to do now is defeat the Arrancar before us. I believe you will understand the rest after the war."
Hachigen clasped his hands together and looked seriously toward Baraggan. Although there was no direct confrontation, the skeleton-like Arrancar gave Hachigen great pressure in his heart.
Not even Urahara Kisuke could make him feel such pressure, so sweat began forming on Hachigen's forehead.
"Bakudo Number Eighty-One: Danku. Blue stripe, white stripe, black stripe, red stripe. They bite each other and sink into the sea. Dragon tail gate, tiger bite gate, turtle armor gate, phoenix wing gate—four beasts gate!"
Following Hachigen's rapid chanting, four giant city gates named after the four holy beasts suddenly appeared in the air. Under Baraggan's astonished gaze, the Arrancar was sealed inside.
The release of high-intensity spiritual power exhausted even Hachigen, the former deputy chief of the Kido Corps. He turned his head and looked at Soi-Fon urgently: "I can only seal him for a while. Please Miss Soi-Fon, hurry up and think of a way to defeat the opponent."
"Wow... so amazing!"
Omaeda Marechiyo stared dumbfounded at the Four Beast Gate summoned by Hachigen, and couldn't help but praise.
"Hachigen, right? Let's not ask about your identity." When she said this, Soi-Fon raised her Bankai arm and said to Hachigen: "Can you find a way to let my attack hit that Arrancar directly?"
"The opponent's ability range is very large, and my Bankai will be blocked by him if I can't get close."
Hearing Soi-Fon's request, Hachigen pondered for a moment, then nodded: "No problem. I can create a channel to temporarily isolate the opponent's ability and create opportunities for your attack, Miss Soi-Fon."
"Okay, let's do it!"
After making their battle plan, Hachigen came alone to the Four Beast Gate. Although he didn't enter it, Hachigen couldn't help feeling his scalp tingling from the decay power within the fortress.
"Bakudo Number Seventy-Six: Secret Method—Hexagon Formation!"
As Hachigen's hands formed seals again, a prismatic crystal instantly appeared in the space originally filled with decay aura within the four beast gates, temporarily isolating the surrounding decay.
"It's now—please hurry up!" As Hachigen's face furrowed and his entire body trembled, ten extremely tiny passages opened at the outer gate of the Four Beast Gate.
"Heh! Just watch it for me, Omaeda!"
"Let's go, Captain!"
After Hachigen's voice fell, Soi-Fon raised her right arm with Omaeda's support, her face ferocious, and aimed at the channel created by Hachigen as she shouted sharply:
"Jakuho Raikōben!!"
"!!"
As a missile launched, the strong recoil forced Soi-Fon and Omaeda to flip several times in the air before they could barely stabilize themselves.
The missile charged into the Four Beast Gate, Hachigen also immediately closed the passage. In less than two seconds, a violent explosion sound was heard throughout Karakura Town.
BOOM!!
The scene changed, and at this time, in the fifth tower of the Hueco Mundo Palace, in the huge ice prison, Grimmjow in his released state was fighting with Kurosaki Ichigo and Hollow Ichigo, both dragging their exhausted bodies in their final battle.
Clang!!
Tensa Zangetsu slashed Grimmjow's leopard claws with a black blade. Sparks flew, and the two distanced themselves again, facing each other.
At this time, the mask on Ichigo's face had quietly faded away at some point, leaving only black sclera in his eye sockets.
"You can't do it anymore, Kurosaki Ichigo!"
Grimmjow took a deep breath, licked his own claw blade, and said with a wicked smile.
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