Silhouettes flashed back and forth across the scorched earth.
That black radiance symbolizing death and decay flickered again and again through the air, and Reishi constructs constantly surged forth, hurling themselves into it to smother that light with their own bodies.
Unlike his fight with Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni earlier, Baraggan Luisenbarn had to admit—no matter how much he didn't want to say it out loud—that Higashino Shuuichi was more troublesome.
Yamamoto didn't know the exact details or limits of Baraggan's ability, and the old man preferred straightforward, head-on attacks rather than tricks. Against Yamamoto, Baraggan could treat him like any other prey in Hueco Mundo: grind him down slowly, savoring the process, torturing him little by little for maximum enjoyment.
Higashino Shuuichi, however, was a different matter.
Thanks to Aizen's arrangements, Higashino had gone to Hueco Mundo fewer times than the two shinigami who joined later, but every time he went, without fail, Baraggan would go hunting for him specifically, and the two of them would end up beating each other half to death.
As a result, Higashino was very familiar with Baraggan's repertoire.
Of course, the reverse was also true—Baraggan knew Higashino's abilities inside and out.
So the moment their battle began, Baraggan abandoned the lazy, stationary style he'd used against Yamamoto.
He knew the flaws of his own aging ability very well after so many years of fighting.
It affected speed, and it had a certain generation rate. Those two points were variables he couldn't perfectly control.
Normally, though, Baraggan only needed to care about its effect on speed.
Because the only way to beat him by overwhelming the generation rate of his aging field was to utterly crush him in raw reiatsu.
And in all his life, Baraggan had only ever met one being who could do that.
Coyote Starrk.
Not even Aizen Sōsuke, Yamamoto Genryūsai, or that damned monk who'd first defeated him could match him in pure spiritual pressure alone.
That pride, as a Hollow, was one of the very few things he'd held onto even before he gained Resurrección.
Higashino Shuuichi, whose reiatsu wasn't even half of Aizen's yet, clearly didn't qualify to exploit that particular loophole.
So Baraggan was less worried about defeating Higashino, and more worried about how to keep him from getting away.
In the past, he'd sometimes gone easy on Higashino because Aizen was watching.
This time, however, Baraggan truly wanted him dead.
So, for once, he chose a style that made it easier to close the distance.
Close-quarters sword combat.
Only at that range, face to face, did he believe he had a real chance of forcing that slippery loach called Higashino to take the full brunt of his aging.
Otherwise, the moment Higashino realized he was losing, he'd shamelessly turn and run—just like he'd done more than once in the past. That wasn't Baraggan's paranoia; it was a fact he'd seen happen with his own eyes.
What he hadn't expected was the trick with the Reishi constructs.
Again and again, Baraggan unleashed the black tide of his power and found his attacks swallowed up by those featureless, milk-white bodies.
For a while, the two of them actually reached a stalemate midair.
"Hmph. Clever idea, I'll grant you that. But if I remember correctly, Higashino Shuuichi, your little toys are limited in number, aren't they?
How many more do you have to throw away in this war of attrition?!"
Another axe swing. Another wave of Reishi constructs suddenly surged out of nowhere, throwing themselves into the beam of light made from that deathly aging aura to shield Higashino's body.
"Enough to deal with you."
Higashino's face was just as confident.
"But you're not entirely wrong. If we keep grinding like this, it'll drag on forever.
Looks like I overestimated you, Baraggan. I thought in the decade I've been away from Hueco Mundo, you'd have improved at least a little. But now…"
He let a mocking smile curl at the corner of his mouth.
And that, precisely, hit Baraggan's weak spot. He'd spent centuries mocking and tormenting others; being mocked in turn was something he absolutely could not tolerate.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Higashino Shuuichi! Killing you now is just as easy as it used to be!"
Before the words even finished echoing, Baraggan used sonído (Echo Step), appearing right in front of Higashino in an instant.
Raindrops struck the raised blade of his massive axe—then vanished as if they'd entered some forbidden space, erased without a trace.
He's mad. Really mad.
Unfortunately for him, Higashino knew Baraggan's temperament all too well. That swing never even brushed the hem of his coat.
The moment Baraggan's silhouette disappeared from his original spot, Higashino knew what was coming. He took a small step back preemptively, and by the time Baraggan reappeared, a cluster of Reishi constructs had already piled themselves into Higashino's former position.
Just as Higashino had said, though—blocking that blow was only the start of his counterattack.
"Heihō Sogen (Return to the Roots of War Strategy)—bankai (Final Release), Kuniku, Jujō Kaika (Painful Flesh, Blossoms on the Tree)!"
This time, Ikeda Kōsuke, far away in Hell, didn't scream and curse like he had before.
Because lately, he'd gone through the darkest stretch he'd ever experienced since arriving there.
His power had been forcibly drained so many times that he was no longer the man who could single-handedly battle an army of ancient Hollows until the end of time. Instead, day after day, he was reduced to a pitiful soul constantly chased and torn apart by different Hollows.
If Hell allowed true death, the number of times Ikeda had "died" over this period would have reached an astronomical figure.
But even that wasn't the real issue.
The real problem was that his spiritual pressure had been bled down to an alarmingly low level.
After the last few times Higashino borrowed his power, Ikeda understood what this new "loan" meant all too well.
Once his strength was drained again, his reiatsu would drop even further.
And most likely, it would fall below Hell's minimum threshold for residency.
When that happened, Hell—where no idle mouths were ever tolerated—would unceremoniously throw him out and reclaim the hellish power that had fused with him.
What would happen then, to someone who had already died once in Soul Society, stripped of Hell's power and kicked back to the world he came from?
There was only one answer.
His body would simply collapse, and he would be forced to fulfill his original duty: letting the reishi that made up his form return to the soil of Soul Society.
At that point, Ikeda Kōsuke's life would truly be over.
He knew all of this. He could explain it step by step.
But Higashino Shuuichi, who was now borrowing that power again, didn't understand any of it.
"Hell's scream, sin's burning flesh, endless agony, ceaseless fate…
Sōjū Bankai, Akki Tenshin (Double Bankai, Demon Ogre Enshrouding the Body)!"
Right in front of Baraggan, Higashino completed his double bankai (Final Release) in one breath.
Inky-black oni shadows coiled around his body, and at the same time, identical shadows surged across the vast expanse of scorched earth at their feet.
They became the armor, weapons, and external "plug-ins" for his Reishi construct soldiers.
"Baraggan, did you know? I once went to Starrk to ask him something. I said, 'How did you defeat Baraggan?'
You know what his answer was?"
Under the gnawing embrace of the oni shadows feeding on him, Higashino grinned, white teeth flashing.
"He said, 'Nothing special. I just used a lot of cero and blew him away.'
And I thought—what a coincidence. Turns out I can do that too."
He swept his arm out to the side, triggering another facet of his bankai.
"Heihō Sogen, Shikabane Kankon (Return to the Roots of War Strategy, Borrowed Corpses, Returned Souls)!"
In an instant, every gigai and artificial body scattered across the battlefield's edges—whether visible from here or not—transformed into oni. They raised their almost ornamental Zanpakutōs together and swung.
A storm of kidō (Demon Arts) roared toward Baraggan.
There was no need now to carefully tailor the spells to match his abilities or state. That kind of efficiency was for people who had the leisure to think.
Higashino only had one order for them: maintain a relentless, uninterrupted bombardment of high-level kidō on Baraggan. Never let up.
As for Higashino himself, wrapped in layer upon layer of oni shadows and boosted in all aspects by Ikeda Kōsuke's bankai via its markings, he dove back into a second round of close-quarters combat with Baraggan.
This approach had been inspired by someone he'd personally killed in the past: the former 10th Division taichō, Maki Kurando.
During their battle, Higashino had clearly watched Maki fall under his blade, only for the flock of oni shadows clinging to Maki's body to throw themselves in front of him, one after another, desperately shielding him from the killing blow.
Each one of them was more determined than the last not to let their master die.
Fortunately, Higashino's gamble paid off. The oni shadows around him really were straining to help resist Baraggan's aging field. That allowed him to show off his swordsmanship in front of Baraggan with almost no fear.
Unfortunately, when he glanced inward, he saw Ikeda Kōsuke's current state in Hell.
His body there was already on the verge of collapse.
Which meant the duration of this double bankai would be much shorter than Higashino had hoped.
He needed a more efficient way to end Baraggan.
If Ikeda's body fell apart and the divine markings carved into him vanished, Higashino was fairly sure his Jujō Kaika (Blossoms on the Tree)bankai would lose its effect as well. He'd have to make another trip to Hell someday, find a shinigami or Hollow, and carve those godly sigils into a new host just to regain it.
And so, under the cover of countless oni firing kidō, Higashino finally bared his fangs at Baraggan in this formal battle.
Closing in—Yakuryū (Strangling Current)!
The surrounding reishi surged as Higashino forced it into alignment, and for less than half a second, Baraggan's body froze in place.
Is half a second short?
Yes. It takes longer than that just to light a cigarette.
Is half a second long?
Also yes. Under the full amplification of the oni shadows and in his current borrowed-power state, it was more than enough time for Higashino Shuuichi to unleash the single strongest slash he'd ever thrown at Baraggan.
Ura Nadegiri (Inner Caressing Cut)!
In the next instant, what had once been known as "black holes" in his previous life finally gained flat, visible counterparts here in Soul Society.
Even after being gnawed away layer by layer by Baraggan's aging aura, the slash still carved countless spatial fissures across the vast stretch of burned ground in front of Higashino.
As for Baraggan—he didn't get out unscathed. Failing to dodge in time, he lost an arm, sheared clean off by Higashino's blade.
Staring at the trail left by that strike, which chilled him even now, Baraggan finally stopped underestimating Higashino.
When had he become this strong?
And if he was this powerful, why was he still serving as Aizen's dog?!
Baraggan couldn't understand it. Didn't even know how to understand it.
But it wasn't as if he had no options left.
He raised his remaining hand toward the sky. With Seireitei's barrier torn open, its coordinates were exposed, and there was nothing to keep Baraggan from opening another garganta here.
Higashino frowned as he looked up.
He wasn't ignorant, whatever people might say. Before leaving Hueco Mundo, he had personally checked Las Noches and confirmed Baraggan's forces there.
He knew for a fact that the only Arrancar still in Las Noches right now was Szayelaporro.
Was Baraggan trying to summon Szayelaporro here?
Impossible. In his current position and for the sake of his own interests, Szayelaporro had no reason to throw his lot in with a washed-up king like Baraggan.
So if Baraggan wasn't summoning an Arrancar, what else was he trying to do with that garganta?
This time, it was Higashino's turn to be puzzled.
But confusion or not, it didn't change his battle plan.
Especially since, thanks to that earlier Ura Nadegiri, Baraggan wasn't exactly in any condition to run.
Seizing the moment, Higashino sent him a second serving of "Ura Nadegiri"—a follow-up gift of love, as it were.
In Baraggan's mind, his reaction could be summarized in seven words:
"Thanks, but keep it. No need."
The aging field surged out like a tide once more, striving to corrode the slash.
But facing Higashino in his current state—who was willing to charge into the teeth of that power just to land a strike—
Baraggan's aging ability simply wasn't enough.
The rate at which it eroded Higashino's attack lagged far behind the speed of the slash closing in on Baraggan's body.
And now there was nowhere to run.
The surrounding space had already been sealed off by the oni's kidō bombardment, and the layered spatial damage from Ura Nadegiri made it impossible for him to use sonído in that zone.
In the end, though, Higashino still failed to finish him with that second slash.
His blade was stopped.
Not by Baraggan himself—but by the enormous mass crashing down out of the garganta overhead.
What is even going on with this world anymore?
First Aizen personally orchestrates the Shiba clan's annihilation, and now Baraggan is calling in reinforcements mid-fight by yanking entire structures out of Hueco Mundo.
Yes—what he'd dragged out of the gigantic garganta was none other than that fortress towering above the Forest of Menos, whose status in Hueco Mundo rivaled Seireitei itself.
Las Noches.
If there was anything Baraggan had truly learned from his past battles with Higashino Shuuichi, it was this:
When you can't win—call reinforcements. And call them big.
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