"I killed Ren..."
Suì-Fēng stared at the octagonal butterfly crest on Ren's palm, her mind suddenly going blank.
Two-Step Scorpion Bite was a success.
But why didn't he dodge? Why did he let her hit him head-on like that?
Did he not know he would die?
In this instant, Suì-Fēng didn't feel any sense of triumph. Instead, she felt a strange, inexplicable surge of regret.
Yoruichi's face flashed across her mind.
Having stayed by Yoruichi's side for so long, she knew how much Lady Yoruichi valued Ren as her husband.
If Lady Yoruichi found out she had killed Ren, she would be devastated.
How would her lady look at her after this? How could she even face Lady Yoruichi again?
No.
Lady Yoruichi was watching from the sidelines, seeing everything clearly.
She must have seen her kill Ren...
What would happen to her?
Would Lady Yoruichi hate and despise her, or would she be cast aside entirely?
Just as Suì-Fēng was sinking into an inescapable pit of terror, the hand in front of her suddenly moved.
The hand was pulled back, and Ren's voice rang out.
"I see. So this is Two-Step Scorpion Bite."
Ren looked at the black mark on his palm, his brow relaxing as he turned his gaze to the dazed Suì-Fēng.
Seeing the man who should have been dead acting as if nothing had happened, Suì-Fēng's first thought was still of Yoruichi.
'He's alive!'
'Thank goodness. Lady Yoruichi won't be sad.'
But immediately after, a look of utter, unshielded astonishment took over her pretty face.
"You... you're not dead?"
"How can you still be alive after being struck by my Two-Step Scorpion Bite?"
Ren smiled inwardly. He had finally reached this moment.
He reached out toward Suì-Fēng and opened his palm.
"Suì-Fēng, your ability is dangerous, but your power is too small."
"Let me tell you something. A battle between Soul Reapers is a battle of spiritual pressure."
"No matter how invincible an ability may seem, if the gap in spiritual pressure between the two sides is too great, the weaker side cannot inflict the slightest harm on the stronger one."
"Just like you and me right now."
After her initial shock, Suì-Fēng snapped back to reality.
She threw her arm down and shouted, her face full of disbelief.
"That's impossible!"
"My current spiritual pressure is already at the level of a Captain. It's not something to be brushed off."
"Are you saying the gap between a Captain-level fighter and you is that vast?"
Ren said calmly, "That is exactly what I'm saying."
He took in the expression on Suì-Fēng's face.
His spiritual pressure surged, but instead of exploding outward, it was tightly constrained within his body, not leaking a single shred.
"Suì-Fēng, an ability of your caliber can be easily suppressed by my spiritual pressure alone."
As Ren spoke, the tattoo-like black crest on his palm began to dissolve at a visible rate.
Suì-Fēng's eyes widened. She watched helplessly as her ultimate killing technique was rendered completely ineffective and easily erased.
The large hand, slightly calloused, was clean and new, with no trace of the crest left behind.
Even though she still found it hard to believe, the reality was right in front of her, telling her plainly that this was the truth!
The gap between them was as vast as the heavens and the earth.
Ren withdrew his hand, his expression unchanged, as if he had just performed a trivial task.
He looked at the shaken Suì-Fēng and asked softly, "What? Are you planning to give up now that you've realized the difference?"
"Not a chance!"
Suì-Fēng gritted her teeth and retreated once more, putting about a hundred meters of distance between them.
"I admit your strength is far beyond mine, but I'm not without my trump cards!"
"Bankai? Go ahead and use it. Let me see what you've got."
The more casual Ren's attitude became, the angrier Suì-Fēng felt.
She held Suzumebachi at her side, her eyes cold and her expression hardening with resolve. She had clearly made up her mind.
Her spiritual pressure was boiling violently!
"Since you're so confident in your strength, then take a good look at my Bankai!"
"Bankai: Jakuhō Raikōben!"
Suì-Fēng's roar was like a clap of thunder. A massive surge of spiritual pressure erupted, shooting upward and forming a pillar of energy that pierced the sky.
Waves of air rolled out, kicking up dust from the ground. Billowing clouds of smoke filled half the training grounds, obscuring Suì-Fēng's figure.
"Quite a spectacle."
Ren felt Suì-Fēng's spiritual pressure filling the air; it had jumped six or seven times higher than before.
A Bankai provided a clear and obvious boost to a Soul Reaper's spiritual pressure.
He waved a hand in front of his face to clear the encroaching dust and peered into the haze ahead.
Thud!
A heavy object hit the ground with a muffled sound.
A petite, delicate figure was vaguely visible through the smoke. Beside her stood a structure twice her height.
Hum.
Suì-Fēng's spiritual pressure flared, blowing away the remaining dust and revealing her current form.
Suì-Fēng's appearance hadn't changed, but the stinger on her finger had become a heavy golden gauntlet covering her entire arm. The pillar beside her was attached to this gauntlet, a massive golden missile with black markings, streamlined at the base and fitted with four metal fins at the top.
With that appearance, it was no longer a pillar, but a massive missile.
Ren was naturally familiar with Suì-Fēng's Bankai.
From the finger-blade of her Shikai to this missile, her Zanpakutō had clearly evolved.
It had gone from a two-hit kill to a one-hit kill.
"What an exaggerated Bankai."
"But such a massive size and heavy weight... it seems to go against the code of the Stealth Force."
Suì-Fēng stared intently at the relaxed Ren. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead, and her expression looked strained.
A Bankai of this scale was a heavy burden for her current self to handle.
"You're right."
"These are the weaknesses of my Bankai. It's too large to hide, too heavy to move, and too flashy for an assassin. It doesn't suit my fighting style at all."
"However, its advantage is also exceptionally prominent: the absolute destructive power of Jakuhō Raikōben!"
Ren nodded slightly, a hint of a smile appearing on his face.
"Perhaps that's the true essence of assassination."
"If you kill every single witness, then it's a perfect assassination."
A cold smirk appeared on Suì-Fēng's pale face.
"Well? This is my Bankai."
"No matter how fast your Flash Step is, you won't be able to escape the blast radius of Jakuhō Raikōben in time!"
"Or are you going to try and tank this with your spiritual pressure too?"
A Bankai was different from a Shikai. The only thing Suì-Fēng was truly satisfied with regarding this Bankai was its raw power.
Even against someone as strong as Ren—or even Head Captain Yamamoto—she was confident she could inflict damage.
Facing this, Ren wouldn't be able to take it as easy as he just did.
""
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